Really?
by Jeffrey Dahmer
Summary: Being on another season of Total Drama wasn't in my plans for the summer. Floating away in a yellow balloon definitely wasn't in my plans. And getting stranded on an island with no hopes of escape and the only company I have is my psycho ex-boyfriend, was NEVER supposed to happen. This just goes to show why no one should ever trust Chris McClean with anything.
1. Yellow Balloons

Owen's farts were strangely oxygenated.

That was the only conclusion I came up with after floating away in a yellow balloon for hours. And that all the hair products must be going to Chris McLean's head if he didn't even think to tie down the balloons full of people. I mean, if I hosted _the _most popular reality show in Canada, I would probably take a little more precaution in you know, _making sure everyone doesn't die!_

But then again, I _was_a Counsellor in Training.

I sighed and tried not to take in too much air. For one, I don't want to use up more oxygen than I already have and also because after three hours, I still wasn't used to the smell of double-baked beans. I figured that if I don't suffocate first then the balloon would eventually start to sink and maybe I could swim my way to land.

That _is _if I'm even over water. If the wind picked up, I could have floated back to Ontario or Quebec. Let's just hope it isn't Quebec because that is a long way to walk to go wring Chris's neck. Pressing my face to the edge of the balloon, I tried seeing outside. Maybe I was floating through some city right now without even knowing it.

It was a little hard to see but I definitely made out _something._ It was directly ahead and was tall, darker colored and grew thicker as it went down- wait was it a tree? Squinting my eyes, I could barely make out the blurry image of a bird flying towards the balloon. It hovered near the balloon, flying around it once before tapping it once with its beak.

And that's when everything exploded.

Air rushed at me like a freight train and I felt myself falling, falling, falling before landing with a splash. I had landed in a pool of water.

"Great, now not only am I in the middle of nowhere, but I'm also soaking wet." I muttered as I climbed out of the pool. I was in a forest kind of like the one at Camp Wawanakwa. It has huge coniferous trees, bushes, and a small lake that I had fallen into that led off into a river. Honestly, I could still be on Wawanakwa for all I know!

I pulled the yellow balloon out of the water and started walking. If I _was _still on the island then I needed it as evidence to prove how stupid Chris was. And if I wasn't, It may just come in handy in making a tent or something. Not that I'd want to spend one more second in that God-awful balloon. I mean, the smell of farts is _not _coming out of my hair for a good month.

Using my super CIT skills, I navigated through the forest. Okay, I actually just followed the river but if anyone asks, let's just say I used a mix of my CIT skills and my finely tuned senses. When the tabloids start coming out about this, that will look _way _better in print.

_Anyway, _while trekking through the forest (and not picking up anything that hinted I was still on Wawanakwa) the sky started to grow dark. As in nighttime dark. As in I-was-going-to-be-eaten-by-wolves-and-bears dark. Not good.

I picked up the pace, hoping that if I walked faster then the bears would be like "Whoa, I don't want to chase her. She deserves to live." Coming from my experience with bears on Wawanakwa, I wouldn't doubt it.

There was a rustling off to my right and that's when I broke out into a full blown sprint. I dropped the yellow plastic and threw my hands in the air, screaming my head off as I raced through the dark forest. And before you read about what happened next, let me just clarify that it was _really _dark and that tree popped out of no where.

Five seconds later, I was on the ground, cradling my nose. There was the rustling behind me but by now, I had given it my all. I had even ran straight into a tree for that stupid thing! Sighing, I stood up, opened my arms wide and closed my eyes. "Goodbye cruel world!"

I was expecting growls, maybe even a roar or a grunt from the bear but instead, I was greeted with laughter. Human laughter. My eyes shot open and landed on the teenage boy, cradling his stomach as he laughed uncontrollably. "You should have seen how scared you were! You-" He couldn't even finish because he was laughing so hard.

"Duncan?"

I wasn't sure whether to hug him because I wasn't alone on the island or thunderpunch him in the throat for scaring me like that. I decided to do both.

He was still laughing when my fist shot out and slugged him right in the throat. He made this weird spluttering sound like a car dying and started twitching uncontrollably. He made the same noise as I leapt into his arms in a hug as he gasped for breath. I don't know if the weird choking sound is because he's confused or because he's actually hurt.

Let's just go with confused.

When he finally was able to breath, Duncan shoved me off of him. "What the hell?" His voice was strained and kind of sounded like Mike's Grandpa personality.

"I'm not alone!" I squealed and did a mini Courtney Victory dance. "I mean, I would have preferred someone useful but you'll do just fine!"

"Hey, I'm useful!" Duncan argued and I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, okay then. We can talk about this later but first, we need to go grab the yellow balloon that _you_ made me drop so we can make a tent or something for the night. Then in the morning, we can go find Chris and yell at him for getting us stuck in this huge mess." I explained and started back towards the balloon.

"Uh, Princess? Sorry to burst your bubble but we aren't on Wawanakwa anymore." Duncan smirked as he followed me.

"Of course we're on Wawanakwa. Where else would we be?" I snapped and my walking turned into stomps of frustration.

"I spent a good hour stuck in a tree after my balloon popped; I had time to scout out the area. I didn't see camp or the cliff or any of Chris's loud speakers. You're stranded babe." Duncan smirked and I stopped dead in my tracks.

The last five words that I heard before I fainted were the most terrifying, awful words I could ever imagine possible:

"And I'm your only company."

**My second fanfiction! I hope you all enjoy and if you have any tips or criticism, feel free to leave them in a review!**

**Question of the Day**

**What Total Drama Season was your favorite and why?**


	2. Counting Seconds

**Reviews**

** Johanna Padilla.5 - That would probably be my favorite too! That was the season when the writers didn't totally change every character and there was no Courtney/Duncan/Gwen/Trent love square going on. And Heather was kind of at her peak at being the villain. And thanks! Here's the next update for you! (I also couldn't put the periods in your name because for some reason my computer would delete it after I saved...)**

**zafnak- Oh my gosh, I know! I was cheering for Cody to win but I also thought the ending was kind of funny with Ezekiel. I think I liked Cody a lot more in this season than in the other ones because since he lasted longer, we got to see a lot more of his character.**

**wolvesfang666- Same! When they broke up I almost just dropped the show in general... okay, maybe not but I was still really disappointed. But I really liked the casting for that season because they had Duncan, Courtney, Noah, and Heather and those are some of my favorite characters. Well, not Heather as much but she made season one interesting.**

* * *

"Just a little higher!"

"Get your butt out of my face Princess!"

"Well then grow a pair and lift me higher!"

"Ugh! Okay do you got it?"

"That's bad grammar, Duncan."

"_I don't care! _Just grab the freaking branch before I drop you!" Duncan yelled and shoved me higher into the tree. This is what happens when two people who loathe each other try to work together.

After Duncan dropped the bomb that we were stuck on this island together, I just had to see this for myself (After I woke up and denied fainting, that is). I chose the highest tree and forced Duncan to help me up. That brings us to realizing once again why we suck at doing anything together.

I have no idea how I managed to tolerate him for nearly two years of dating.

I grabbed the nearest branch and pulled myself up, pushing off Duncan's face with my foot to scramble up the rest of the way. From up here, I could clearly see the entire island. And for once in his miserable life, Duncan was right.

The island looked _nothing _like Wawanakwa. It actually looked more like a Hawaiian island than anything because it just looked like the entire island was one big volcano or something. Or at least a mountain because I don't know if volcanos form in this part of Canada. But of course, if Duncan asked about that, I would give him this huge lecture about tectonic plates so he doesn't realise that I know zilch about volcanoes in Ontario/Quebec.

We were probably half way down the mountain and the beach was a few miles away. If we kept walking with no stops, we shoulder be able to make it to shore by noon. It was somewhere in the morning right now, depending how long I was "asleep" for.

"So, am I right or am I right?" Duncan called from down below and I shot him a frosty glare. I was not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was correct.

"Let's start walking. Maybe we can make an SOS out of driftwood and a plane will fly overhead." I said as I scaled down the tree.

I probably should have asked Duncan if all the branches looked safe to stand on from down there but nooo, I just had to be stubborn. If I had asked, I wouldn't have stepped on the breaking branch with all my weight. It wouldn't have cracked and I wouldn't have been sent plummeting to my death.

I let out a short scream, my arms flailing as I started falling down, down, down. I tried to grab onto anything that I could hold onto but just ended up scratching up my palms on the bark of the tree. _Goodbye, cruel world! _I screamed in my mind as I braced myself for death.

Only it never came. Instead, I landed in soft arms and the vague smell of cologne. Slowly opening my eyes, I was greeted by teal ones, black hair with a tinge of green, and way too many piercings for any human being. "Watch your step, babe," he smirked down at me.

Huffing, I shoved Duncan away from me and planted both feet firmly on the ground. "Ugh, don't touch me, ogre!" I snapped and crossed my arms. Okay, maybe I could have been a _teeny _bit more appreciative but he didn't have to be so cocky about it!

"_Oh, Duncan! You saved my life! How could I ever repay you?" _Duncan mocked in a high pitch voice that was supposed to sound like me. "It's cool, Princess. No need to thank me."

"Was that supposed to sound like me?" I laughed and Duncan shrugged with one shoulder.

"Well I knew you weren't going to say it. But c'mon babe, would one little 'thank you', kill you?" Duncan asked and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"To you? Probably." And with that, I started stomping back down the hill, ignoring the names that Duncan spat at me as he trailed after me.

* * *

It took exactly two hours, fifty-six minutes and seven seconds of silence to make it all the way down to the shore - I would know, I counted the seconds. Duncan was always about three paces behind me, probably waiting for me to snap and say "Okay, fine! Thank you! Are you happy now, imbecile?" but he should know I'm too stubborn for that.

So instead, I kept my brown eyes glued ahead as made a trail down the mountain.

I didn't even realize before that the entire thing was on a slope. I probably should have with my CIT senses but for some reason, I didn't. When we finally reached the beach, it only confirmed Duncan's theory: we were definitely not on Wawanakwa.

Instead of soft sand, the beach was made up of rugged rocks and litter that floated ashore. There was even a ripped up poster that advertised Total Drama All-Stars with our faces on it. The picture was not at all flattering to say the least. There was a twig stuck in my hair and an angry look on my face with my arms crossed.

Thankfully, the other campers looked just as bad! They all had bruises and scratches and since the page was so torn up, Zoey, Gwen, Heather, Alejandro, Mike, Cameron and half of Sierra's face, were all ripped off along with part of the title.

Crumbling up the poster, I threw it as far as I could, into the water. Even when I'm stranded on a freaking island, I can't get away from Total Drama!

Grumbling under my breath about all the ways I'll kill Chris, I started picking up pieces of driftwood to make an SOS out of. I could hear Duncan approach but I didn't expect him to actually say anything to me. I kind of just expected him to start picking up wood, but then again, nothing is easy when it include Duncan Mahone.

"I still haven't heard a 'thank you.'" Duncan said for the first time in exactly three hours, two minutes and thirty-three seconds. "For a girl with as big as a vocabulary as you, I didn't think two little words would be so hard."

"How about you go back to not talking and picking up driftwood?" I snorted, my anger slowly rising with every word he said. I was annoyed by the situation but the anger I was feeling was directed to him in general.

"Nope," Duncan teased and crossed his arms. "Not until I get a real 'thank you'."

"Then I guess I'll be doing this myself," I said and motioned to the five pieces of wood in my arms. If I wanted to make an SOS big enough for a plane to see, I would need way more than five pieces and I'm not exactly on a roll right now.

"It doesn't have to be this hard, Princess. You just have to say two little words and I'll shut up for the rest of the day and do whatever you tell me. I _did _save your life, I think you owe me," Duncan smirked and that's when I snapped.

I threw the planks of wood on the ground and whipped around to face the punk. " I _owe_ you? For what, making my life a living hell? Stringing me along for almost two years so you could cheat on me with my friend? And then you just _had _to rub it in my face, didn't you? Or _maybe_ it's because of that one time we got stranded on a deserted island together and you still have the audacity to pretend that we're okay!"

Duncan stared at me with those wide blue eyes as I continued, "We are _not _okay and we will never be okay. So stop pretending that nothing happened and stop calling me Princess or babe or darling because you have no right to call me that anymore. Just leave me alone, Duncan!"

It took eleven hours, eight minutes and two seconds before Duncan spoke to me again. But all he said was, "Goodnight, Courtney."

**Well that escalated quickly... Thank you to the three nice reviews and everyone who favorite/followed this story!**

**Question of the Day**

**Who is your favorite author on Fanfiction for the Total Drama archive?**


	3. Sauce

**Ah! Thanks so much for the support! I love y'all so much!**

**Reviews**

**Tiggystretch - well, here it is. I hope you enjoy :) **

**Sadie Loves DXC - I haven't read those before but I'll definitely check them out now :) And yeah, the TD archive has a lot of really awesome writers and even better readers. Like, I'm new to this fandom but everyone is being so kind and when they give advice, they're being friendly and I haven't gotten a single flame yet! And as you wish, here's a longer chapter. I realized that after you said that, that my chapter were pretty short so I'm aiming for AT LEAST 2,000 words per chapter but the more, the better.**

**Stunna13 - Ooh, I like her. And I know, I heard about that :'( It's kind of sad actually. She's one of my favorite authors... along with you too, I'll admit :3**

**Johanna Padilla.5 - I tried searching up PrincessDXC but I didn't find her. Maybe she came up with a different username? And thanks! I hope you enjoy the third too!**

**SideshowJazz1 - You don't have to answer the QOTD if you don't want to! I just put them there mainly to start conversation and get to know my readers on a more personal level :) And I actually think I read the Civil Rights one! Or something like it but there are a lot of stories on here that deal with pretty controversial stuff like racism, abuse, etc. But all of the ones I've read are written beautifully.**

**Jazy411TotalDramaWorldNews - OMG I checked out Frank15 and wow, they are a talented author! I read the one-shot about Noah going to save Izzy, I don't know if you've read it but it's so funny and on point! Almost all the characters act EXACTLY like they do in the show and that can sometimes be a challenge. I haven't read Total Drama 52 but it's clearly getting a good reception from the readers!**

* * *

The next day was pretty awkward after my little spat with Duncan. I refuse to call it a temper tantrum because mature people such as myself do _not _have tantrums. Only five year olds and people with green mohawks have tantrums. The only difference between the two is that one throws his toys around the room and the other blows up a building.

We avoided each other for a good portion of the day. Duncan tried to talk with me a few times but I turned my nose up and ignored him. My therapist says that I need to learn how to control my anger and if that means just avoiding the problem for the rest of my life, then so be it.

I realized soon though, that this avoiding this might not work as well as I thought. My stomach was growling and up until now I've just been ignoring my hunger as much as Duncan, but I couldn't do that forever. For one, because I'd starve to death and two, because my therapist warned me about avoiding too many things in my life.

I chose to ignore that too.

"Duncan?" I called awkwardly into the forest. He had gone in about an hour ago and hadn't returned for a while. And I _really _didn't want to go in after him. "Uh, are you there?"

There was a rustling in the bushes and I immediately felt myself relax. The last time I fell for that stupid trick, it was Duncan all along. There's no way I'm falling for that again!

"Please, Duncan, I never picked you to be the one to reuse old pranks," I snorted as the rustling continued. "Now just come out already so we can go scavenge for food or something."

More rustling. By now it was just annoying. Duncan _definitely _wasn't the kind to drag on a prank this long if he knew it was hopeless. So maybe... maybe that wasn't Duncan...

The bush parted and seconds later huge bear stood up. I let out a blood-curdling scream as I started running. Of course, not only was I stranded on an island, but I was stranded with a man-eating bear and Duncan! Frankly, I don't know what's worse...

My legs carried me across the beach and my own screaming drowned out the bears roars. Let it be known for future reference that I was only screaming, not because I was scared, but because... I was practicing for an opera I was planning to audition for...

Okay, I was scared.

I sprinted past Duncan who was happily munching on some wild blueberry's. He turned and watched me as I screamed as I raced down the beach but didn't stop me or ask what was wrong. In fact, he just looked mildly confused at why I was screaming. That's when I slowed to a stop. If the grizzly was still chasing me then Duncan wouldn't have made that face with his stupid piercings all covered in blueberry juice.

I turned around to see that the grizzly bear was disappearing into the woods with a rejected look on his face. I guess he only wanted to play... Duncan on the other hand, was staring at me like I was crazy.

"There was a bear," I blushed and avoided eye contact. Well at least we were talking again.

"Sure there was Prin- Courtney," Duncan sneered. Ouch. After being called Princess for so long, I kind of thought I'd be happy when he finally dropped the pet names. But he says my name like _that _I'd rather go back to the pet names. Too late for that.

"There was," I huffed indignantly. "Now just tell me where you got those berries so I can be on my way."

Duncan held up his hand full of berries and smirked, "Oh you mean these berries?"

"Yes, those berries!" Seriously, this boy was impossible at times!

Duncan shrugged, "I don't know. And by the way, you have a twig in your hair."

Are. You. Serious?

Growling, I whipped around and stormed in the direction that Duncan had come from. The Neanderthal probably hit the jackpot and refused to tell me because of my little temper tantr- er, opinionated yelling - last night. I didn't expect him to take it so personally and go out of his way to make me starve!

And, not to mention that the only way I could have gotten a twig in my hair was from when I fell out of the tree yesterday. He had an entire day to tell me and he only chose to mention the little fact now? He's lucky we're not on TV right now because if the world saw that, I'd strangle the punk!

I stomped down the beach as best that I could because since it was made out of rocks, I was stumbling everywhere, until I reached some openings in some bushes that looked like the leaves had somehow been sliced away. Duncan probably had that stupid little pocket knife that he carried everywhere just to carve his name into stuff.

As I walked along the path, my point was proven when I saw a skull and cross bones cut into a tree. And on another tree, he cut a thick line all the way around the entire thing so the trunk's bark didn't connect to the rest of the tree. The idiot! Doesn't he know that he damaged the xylem and phloem of the tree so it can't transport - ugh, never mind! I just remembered that this was Duncan I'm talking about.

I continued stomping along the trail, barely even paying attention to the carvings in the tree anymore. They were all probably really stupid anyways.

Finally, after walking for maybe half a kilometer, I reached the jackpot. Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, you name it! They were all there in bushes that were taller than me. There were even some grape bushes! I always thought grapes grew on vines...

I pulled a piece of yellow balloon that I had ripped away last night and started collecting the berries. I was planning to use the piece as toilet paper or something but using it as a cloth to hold food was just as good. I collected as many berries that could fit in the cloth and folded it neatly then placed it in my pocket.

The food was probably getting squished because let's face it, girl jeans have worthless pockets, but I didn't mind. As long as I got some food in my stomach then I was good.

I started heading back down the same trail that I came on when I stopped dead in my tracks. I didn't know a lot about Canada's berries but I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't all grow in one patch, in bushes that were larger than a human being. Do grapes even grow naturally in Canada? I stormed back to the bushes and summoned my sleuthing skills.

...maybe my sleuthing skills weren't as sharp as I needed them to be because I literally just walked around each bush once before shrugging and walking away. Something fishy was going on but as long as I was provided with food, then I don't really care.

I reached the beach soon enough to see Duncan was setting something up, carrying driftwood over and dropping it and then going back and carrying a different piece to the same spot. _He's... he's actually making an SOS. And I didn't even have to force him to do it... maybe he really has changed._

With my hopes up and expectations high, I walked over to Duncan to see that he was making some real progress. The thing was huge and if a plane flew over, they'd definitely be able to see it and we'd be saved. It was hard to see from a ground point of view and it looked a little messy but it got the job done. "Wow, Duncan... you actually _helped."_

"Don't expect it to happen again, Sweetheart," Duncan rolled his eyes, not realizing he had slipped and used a pet name. "I'm only doing this because I want to get off the island just as much as you do. If spelling SOS is what does it then I'll do it."

He said SOS weird. Instead of spelling it out like S-O-S, he said how it actually sounded, like he was saying _sauce_. It was strange, but a lot of things with Duncan is strange.

"Well... thanks anyway. You're printing could use a little work but you must have put a lot of effort in." It was a little awkward thanking him because I don't usually thank people. Ever. But in this case, I had to because he was actually doing something that could save our lives.

"You look like you're just about done so I'll go try and start a fire or something. It got cold last night," I said and started walking away with a good feeling in my chest. This was the Duncan I was waiting all along for; the one who could be responsible and determined. Maybe I could learn to forgive him for some of the things he's done too me...

That's another thing my therapist told me I needed to learn how to do. She went on and on about how I hold grudges and need to learn how to forgive and forget. But in my defense, the last time I did that, it was with Gwen and she ended up sending me down a giant toilet.

I started collecting dry wood and leaves. I purposely grabbed green ones, just so if a plane flew over, then they'd be able to see the smoke. I know, I'm genius right?

I set the wood up in a little tent formation and used rocks to surround it to keep the flames in. I put the leaves underneath the wood and even found the crumpled All-Stars poster from yesterday and pit that in with the leaves. If I had the chance to burn most of those peoples faces off, then nothing was holding me back.

Starting the fire was a little harder then getting it set up. I mean, I was a CIT but it didn't mean I could randomly make things burst into flames.

"Courtney!" Duncan screamed from down the beach, "I hear a plane!"

Dropping the two twigs I was rubbing together, I sprinted down the rocky beach to the SOS sign. This was it! Three days on this retched island and I was all ready to get off and go back to studying law! You have no _idea _how much I'm craving a Orange Mocha Frappuccino right now!

Duncan was already standing by the SOS, waving wildly and screaming. The plane looked like some kind of cargo plane or something, not the kind that carried people in it but it was better than nothing. I started screaming and jumping up and down, knowing that they probably couldn't see me, but they would be able to see our SOS.

When the plane cleared the island, I stopped jumping. Duncan looked a little disappointed but I knew what it meant. "We're going to be saved! They obviously don't have anywhere to land so they're probably radioing back to base and in a few hours, we'll be on a boat, heading back home!"

Duncan just looked confused and said, "That's not how it is in the movies."

"Movies are rarely accurate. Unless of course, it's a documentary, then it's usually right with some exaggerated facts..." I trailed off knowing that by the blank stare, Duncan had tuned me out. "The point is, we only have to spend a few more hours on this crummy island and then we'll be saved... We should probably still start a fire so they know we're still here."

"Have fun with that, I'm going to catch up on some Z's. If the captain's a babe, I want to look my finest," he winked and I shuddered.

"Ogre..." I muttered as I started back towards the fire.

I didn't start making it for another half hour because by then, I was hungry again and I ate the rest of the berries. It took another twenty minutes for the fire to start blazing and when it did, I leaned up against the base of a tree and waited.

An hour passed. And then another. And the another. It didn't worry me until six hours passed and I started to wonder if the plane had even seen the SOS. But that doesn't make any sense because the SOS was huge! A space shuttle would be able to see that thing!

I let the fire burn - by now, it was only cinders - as I went to go find Duncan. Maybe he would have some explanation, though it wasn't likely. It was starting to get dark by now and I was worried that if the fleet of rescue ships arrived then they wouldn't be able to find us, think it was a prank, and leave.

Duncan was sleeping by the edge of the forest in the tent we made out of the yellow balloon and some tree branches. He was using a bunch of fern leaves as a blanket and his shirt and pants as a pillow. I nudged him roughly with my foot and his blue eyes blinked open.

"No one's come yet," I said bluntly. "Do you have any idea why?"

Duncan rubbed his head as he blinked the sleep away. "No, my SOS was huge... aliens would have been able to see that thing."

"Stop saying it like that! It's S-O-S," I snapped.

"You're the one saying it wrong! It's pronounced sauce!" Duncan rolled his eyes like I was the idiot in this situation. "Jeez, read a book."

As if he'd ever done that once in his life.

"Ugh, no it's not! It's Morse code, not an actual word!" I yelled. "It's three separate letters, S-O-S!"

Duncan's entire face fell and he looked up at me with sheepish eyes, "I think we may have a problem then..."

Five minutes later, I was standing up on a tall boulder, looking at his SOS. I could definitely make out the first S, but the rest of it was really messy. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to make out the OS. Where was it? He either stretched it out so it was really long, or he didn't spell SOS at all. In fact, it kind of looked like it spelt...

"SAUCE!" I shrieked with realization. "You spelt sauce! They're going to think a bunch of idiots came on the island just to pull a stupid prank or something!"

Duncan rubbed the back of his next sheepishly, "Oops."

"Oops? Oops isn't going to make it better, Duncan! You might have just ruined any chance we had of escaping!" I yelled as I hopped off the border and stormed over to him, fury blazing in my eyes. "A plane might _never _fly over again!"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, it'll fly back over again to drop off more people in Canada. Airplanes don't change their flight patterns every time they make a trip," Duncan said matter-of-factly. My hands bunched into fists and my eyes narrowed.

"That may be true," I said calmly and then started screaming, "IF IT WASN'T A CARGO PLANE! That thing could fly to America next, or Africa, or anywhere other than Canada! Do you know how little a chance that plane has of flying back over? Maybe it was a one-way trip and you just blew it! Do you even want to go home?"

"No!" Duncan finally yelled. "For you, home is a soft pillow, all access Wi-Fi and lattes with you friends. For me, home is a prison cell, toilets without stalls, and people who will try to beat me up every day! So no, _Princess, _I don't want to go 'home.'"

I stared at him in shock. Of course he'd rather be here than back on mainland; while I had parents to greet me, he had jail mates. I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, speaking with my eyes shut. "Listen, Duncan. If you help me get back home, I'll get my lawyer to reopen your case. Maybe she could bump the sentence down or make some deal with Chris."

I opened my eyes to see that Duncan looked a little split. He was standing on the fence; on one hand, he didn't want to go to prison and on the other, he knew that he couldn't stay on this God-forsaken island forever. Finally, he sighed, "Fine. But I'm holding you to that."

I held out my hand, "So it's a deal then?"

Duncan spit on his hand and shook mine. I froze up, my one eye twitching as my arms strained. He just... I need sanitizer ASAP!

I wiped the spit on my already ruined pants and tried to erase the moment from my memory. I was about to walk away to go get some sleep when Duncan called after me.

"And Courtney." I turned around. "I really did think it was spelt S-A-U-C-E."

**Thoughts? And also just as a note, if you review, you don't HAVE to answer the QOTD. I just put them there because I want to get to know you guys better and it's a good way to start conversation.**

**Question of the Day**

**Have you seen TDPI? If so, what'd you think about it?**


	4. Raft-Eating Sharks

**Oh my gosh, 17 reviews for only three chapters? Thank you guys so much and can we try for 25 reviews for next chapter? I know that's asking a lot but I just love your support :)**

**Reviews**

**babyluvu - Yeah, I've had a lot of people say they liked TDWT. I personally liked TDI the best just because I usually like the original anything, but I really did like World Tour. I thought a lot of the songs were funny and I liked how they got to go to different places for each challenge. I wasn't a fan of the DxC breakup though. And me too! I haven't finished it yet but so far I like it a lot! **

**iceandfire105 - Thanks, that means a lot! And yeah, I like them too. Admittedly, I like Shawn a little more than Jasmine but they're pretty cute together.**

**Johanna Padilla.5 - Oh, I looked her up and you're right! She's really amazing :D Duncan is such a idiot sometimes haha! And I liked TDPI (haven't finished it yet thought) but I thought it was pretty good. Some characters were a little flat, admittedly.**

**Jazzy411TotalDramaWorldNews - haha me too, even though I wrote it! I feel worse for Courtney though, because she actually wants to go home! And I totally agree with you on that one. I feel like they made all the characters, and chose their favorites to focus on because they didn't have enough time to go in depth. Like Dave, Sky, Jasmine, and Shawn are the ones they want to focus on and then the rest are just quirky characters to make it more entertaining. I do like TDPI, but I'd like it more if there was more of it.**

**SideshowJazz1 - Honestly, the only season I've seen all the episodes is All-Stars. Oops :3 And yeah, they are kind of flat. I feel like the new writers try too hard to stick to the stereotype and that's what make them flat. I actually laughed when Sugar was introduced because it's so obvious that she's based off of Honey Boo Boo.**

**DannyPhantom619 - I have to admit that Season 1 was one of my favorites just because they hadn't really ruined any of the characters. I'm always a sucker for the original though!**

**Guest - As you wish!**

As angry as I was at Duncan, he was being more helpful the day after the "Sauce" incident. When I woke up that morning, he was already awake and making a pile of driftwood. There was a small pile of berries laying on a piece of yellow balloon and I couldn't help but feel impressed with how organized he was. And once again, I started to feel like maybe this boy had changed...

Maybe he was finally going to be more classy like I'd always dreamed.

But then he farted and all hopes of that were diminished. Grimacing at the smell, I sat down and started eating the berries. Duncan came and plopped down next to me. He wasn't wearing a shirt so just let it be known that I did have _some _will power for the first forty seconds of seeing him, but after that, I couldn't resist a peek.

I looked back up at him and I could see that stupid little sparkle in his eyes. He knew I looked. "Like what you see, babe?"

My face flushed and I looked away, "Eh, it's average. On a scale of Harold to Alejandro, it's about a Noah."

Duncan's eye started twitching and I couldn't help but giggle. But now wasn't the time to talk about Duncan's abs (swoon) but it was time to get down to business and talk about how we're getting off this island. My face grew serious, "We need to think of something. If you have an idea for getting off the island, just toss it out there."

Duncan tapped his chin thoughtfully, "What if built a giant cannon-"

"Be realistic Duncan," I snapped. "Not even Chris would be crazy enough to shoot someone out of a cannon."

Just as the words left my mouth, something went shooting across the sky, only to pass us and disappear on the other side of the island. It was making a really strange noise, like someone yelling? But that's impossible. There would no way a _human being _would be flying across the sky. I shared a glance with Duncan but we both shook our heads and silently agreed that we would never speak of it again.

"Okay, well what if we got a bunch of feathers from birds and made wings. Then we could just fly back to Canada," Duncan suggested and I shot him a look. "What, they did it on Gilligan's Island and he did it just fine... until they told him he couldn't and he crashed."

I rolled my eyes, "_Gilligan's Island_ isn't the most realistic show in the world. And I never pegged you for the guy to watch black and white."

"I grew up on that stuff! Me and my brother would always watch it and sing along with the theme song," Duncan said with a silly grin on his face. Huh, I would have never thought...

But then again, this is a guy whose worst fear is a Celine Dion cut-out. Not much he does surprises me anymore.

"That's still a ridiculous idea," I shook my head and Duncan rolled his eyes. "What if we-"

"Built a spaceship?" Duncan interrupted and I shot a glare at him.

"No," I snapped.

"A catapault?"

"No, Duncan."

"A giant bridge?"

"A RAFT, DUNCAN!" I screamed. "We are just going to build a raft.""

"That never worked on Gilligan's Island but I guess we can give it a try," he mumbled. I rolled my eyes and stood up, wiping the red berry juice on my pants. They were already destroyed as it is so what's a little raspberry blood going to do?

"You go find something to tie the pieces together and I'll collect the wood. It just needs to be big enough to fit both of us on it and then maybe some supplies," I explained.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Duncan saluted me and then marched away. I rolled my eyes for the millionth time. That boy...

I started on collecting all the pieces. They would have to big enough to support both Duncan and me so most of the driftwood didn't work. I found some thin logs and branches though and those would work just fine. Duncan would have to help me carry the larger logs over because even though I was awarded MVP in most sports I entered, I still wasn't strong enough to lift a tree by myself.

I ended up collecting enough pieces and setting them up when Duncan finally returned. He had a whole pile of vine swung over one shoulder and with the other hand, he was munching on a banana. Where the heck did he get a banana? We're on a Canadian island, not an Indonesian one.

"Where did you get that?" I asked and pointed at the banana. He took the last bite and then tossed the peel on the ground.

"I found a banana bush on the way back," he answered casually. Nothing about that sentence was right. Again, banana's in Canada is not a thing. And secondly, banana's grow on _trees _not on _bushes. _

"That's not possible," I stated and Duncan shrugged.

"I'm just saying what I saw, darling. No need to get all defensive."

"I'm not getting defensive!" I snapped and he just smirked. "Whatever, I don't even care. I guess it's some weird, undiscovered banana that somehow grows on bushes."

"I guess so. If it's undiscovered then that means I get to name it right? How about... the Duncana?" he said and I rolled my eyes. Nobody would want to eat anything called a Duncana. That sounds like some kind on fungal infection. "What do you think about that one, Princess?"

"We agreed that you would call me by my actual name. We aren't friends anymore, Duncan," I reminded. I expected him to look the least bit hurt but he still had that easy grin on his face. Right, selective hearing; Duncan only hears what he wants to hear.

"Yeah, but then we made a deal so I figured that if I'm helping you get off this island then I have the right to call you whatever I please," he shrugged. I sighed and shook my head. Whatever, I shouldn't be on this island for much longer so soon enough, I'll be away from him and his stupid pet names.

"Just give me the vines, Duncan," I snapped and held out my hand and he gladly plopped the coil of vine into it. There was enough that we would have plenty left over even after building the raft. I started tying all of it together and soon enough, the top half of the raft was complete. Now we would just need some bigger logs for the bottom part and then we would be free!

"C'mon, let's go grab some more logs," I said and started walking towards the forest. My plan was to make sort of a checkerboard pattern on the raft with the big logs going one way on the bottom, and the layer on the top going across them.

It didn't take long to drag three logs over and tie them to the raft as well. After that, all we needed to do was make paddled out of branches and fern leaves and we were ready to go.

We both stared at the raft with proud grins on our faces. The raft looked messy but stable. It would definitely get us back to main land within a couple of days. "Here, let's just go grab some berries and bananas and the yellow balloon and then we-"

I was cut off when a shark jumped out of the water, took a bite out of the raft and dived under again. At first it didn't even register in my mind what had just happened until the raft started sinking. I stared at our destroyed masterpiece while Duncan didn't even react at all.

Instead, without any emotion, he just said, "Sharks. Fantastic."

He didn't say anything and just walked away, letting the rest of the raft sink and all our hard work go to waste. We had been working on that stupid thing all day and now it was ruined! I picked up a rock and chucked it at the spot where the raft was, hoping that maybe it would hit the shark and at least give it brain damage. Of course, that didn't happen.

"Well what now?" I yelled, turning around at Duncan, who was chewing on blueberries like they were balls of dirt.

"I don't know," Duncan answered and I sighed. Of course he didn't. Even if he did have an idea, it was probably something stupid like make a teleporting machine or something.

"Well, we kind of need to think of something," I reminded him bitterly. "No ideas means we're stuck on this island for God knows how long!"

"I know that!" Duncan spat. "I just don't know what to do!"

"Ugh, you're hopeless," I grumbled and stormed over to the water. I plopped down on the rocks and stared at the spot where our raft had sunk. A few bubbles were coming up where it had disappeared, but other than that, there wasn't any sign that the raft was here. I pulled my knees up to my chest and pressed my forehead into them.

Think Courtney!

_What would you do at home to sort out your thoughts? _I'd make a list. Admittedly, that didn't exactly work out for me on All-Stars but maybe I could give it another go. But this time I'd leave out the rat tails and horns... Of course, I'd have to make a mental list because I didn't have any paper.

* * *

Problems

Being stuck on an island

Sharks that eat rafts

Man-eating bears

Duncan

Solutions

SOS

Raft

Hot-air balloon

* * *

I grinned as I added the last thing on my mental list. If we somehow used the balloons that got us here to bring us back then maybe that could be our ticket off the island. The only problem we had was actually making the hot-air balloon. We would need to patch both of our balloons together and somehow get a fire to lift us off but after we get over that small hill then we're golden.

I used a sharp rock to graph out my plans on another rock before going to show Duncan. When he saw it, the first words that left his mouth were, "There's no way that will ever work."

I grumbled as I started to work on making the basket for the balloon, ignoring Duncan for the rest of the night. I'll show him! By tomorrow morning, there _will _be a usable balloon to make out escape.

_This will work._

**Okay, so the reason I didn't update for so long was because I was on vacation. I could have used my iPod to type out the story but I didn't want to publish something that was riddled with errors because I was impatient. So I hope you all forgive me and you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Question of the Day**

**Who if your favorite TD character?**


	5. It Didn't Work

**OHMYGOSH I LOVE YOU ALL! I really wanted to see if I could get 25 reviews last chapter even though I knew from the start that it was a stretch but you guys came through and I'm honestly so happy right now! I love you all and as a reward, here's an extra long chapter of 3000 words! I've only had approximately 2000 for the last few chapters.**

**Tiggystretch- Finally someone says it! I like the guy but he was in every season, had most episodes dedicated to him, and definitely got the most attention! If they gave a quarter of his screen time to another character then I think there'd be a definite shift in the fanbase.**

**Guest - Thank you and I really did :) But now I'm back to school and my free time will be dedicated to my writing!**

**iceandfire105 - Same! I liked her better in TDI honestly but since then I've always been a little biased to her.**

**DannyPhantom619 - Duncan's a close second to Courtney for me :) But DxC is definitely the best ship out there!**

**Jazzy411 - Thank you so much for understanding! I didn't want to let anyone down and I swear this fanbase is the best out there! And iPods such eh? The spellcheck just ruins me -_- This is Total Drama, where sharks eat rafts and Owen's farts are oxygenated. I wouldn't expect less :)**

**SideshowJazz1 - You've got quite the list there ;) I honestly haven't seen ROTI so I wouldn't have a favorite from that season but Dawn seems interesting! **

**lol - thanks doll!**

**Madison Wooten - No boys? But I like your list, they're good characters.**

* * *

**PS: The second half of this was written with the help of a little birdie named Gray Goose Vodka. Don't worry I edited whilst sober :P**

* * *

It didn't work. Not in the slightest.

I started by attaching the balloons together with tiny strands of thread from our clothes. That took a good seven hours to do but when it was done, our balloons were securely fastened and the thread held tight. By that point, Duncan had moved from his spot under a tree to a few feet away from me.

The ogre refused to help but didn't mind watching.

From there, I used vine to tie the balloon to the basket I had spent all night weaving out of dried leaves and bark. It would be a tight fit but if we huddled close then we'd both be able to fit. When I made the basket I figured it would only be for a few hours at the most. Nothing I couldn't handle.

The worst part about it all was the fire. I knew that hot air balloons needed fire to lift off but I didn't exactly know why (sorry, I forgot to pay attention in Balloons101 in school) so I figured that my best bet would just be holding a torch in the balloons while we floated happily away.

When my balloon was down, I presented my small, patchy masterpiece to Duncan who simply raised his eyebrow and strolled over. I expected him to ridicule it or say 'there's no way this will fly' but he didn't. In fact, he didn't say anything at all.

And that drove me crazy.

Gritting my teeth together, I climbed into the basket. Duncan climbed in after me and that's when I instantly regretted making the basket so small. We had to duck so our heads didn't hit the balloon so we were crammed against the edges of the basket. I was straddling Duncan's crotch region and his legs were sticking straight up, squished between my back and the edge of the basket.

"I'm pretty sure there are easier ways for us to sit," I said and Duncan smirked.

"No, it's okay, Dollface. I'm just fine down here." That sick pervert! He planned this!

I tried to stand up but he was laying on my feet and I was virtually stuck. There was no way out... except for up. I shot Duncan a fierce glare and grabbed two rocks from my pocket. The thought of using them to bash his teeth in struck me but I shook the thought away.

"Hold this," I ordered and dropped a messy torch in Duncan's hand. I smashed the two rocks together as hard as I could until a little spark was produced. It didn't catch onto the fabric hanging off the torch right away but after a few more tries, it finally lit.

I gently blew on the small flame until the whole torch combusted. I raised the torch up so it fit in the little hole in the balloon. Smoke filled the yellow balloon and I squeezed my eyes shut.

_This has to work! It just has to! _I thought to myself. For the sake of getting off the island and my dignity, I needed this to work.

But of course, it didn't.

We started lifting off the ground and hope filled my chest. We were about a foot off the ground when there was a breeze. The flame flickered to the side, just enough to catch onto the yellow balloon and within seconds, the entire balloon was in flames.

We plummeted to the ground, landing roughly on the rocks with the torch about three feet away and the balloon blowing off to sea. And we were still stuck in the basket.

We sat there for a good minute, in the same position only laying sideways on the ground. We were both reeling from what had just happened and it took exactly sixty-four seconds for it to all make sense in my brain.

It only took Duncan sixty-five seconds before he said, "I told you it wouldn't work."

Scowling, I grabbed a few rocks and tried dragging myself out of the basket. I didn't budge. I glanced down at Duncan who had a smug grin on his face and tried again. Once more, it was a failure. We were stuck.

"Uh Duncan? We may have a problem..." I trailed off. That stupid smirk fell off his face as he grabbed my hips and tried pushing me off with no luck.

Now, I'm not saying that we haven't been in this position before (maybe not in a basket exactly) but after the whole Gwuncan fiasco and my hate towards him, this was the last position I wanted to be in. "Come on Duncan, this isn't funny. Just get off my feet!"

"I can't Princess, you wove this basket so tight that I can't even move!" Duncan snapped and I felt anger start to build inside of me.

"Well maybe if you let me move earlier then we wouldn't be in this situation," I retorted. "And if you actually _helped _with making the basket then it'd be bigger. I'm only one person; don't expect me to do wonders."

"But you're a C.I.T," Duncan snarled. "You should have been able to make a jet plane by now."

"Rome wasn't built in a day, Duncan," I spat through gritted teeth.

"You're not building Rome, you're weaving a basket!" Duncan yelled. "Or maybe the little Princess isn't as good as she says she is."

That's when I lost it. I slammed my fists against Duncan's chest as I screamed, "MY NAME IS COURTNEY!"

Birds flew away, glass probably shattered, and Duncan clasped his ears with his hands. I gasped for breath as I glowered at him. "My name is not Princess or Dollface or any other stupid name you come up with. It's Courtney. We've been over this and I don't want to have to repeat myself so this is the last time I'm saying it.

"My name is Courtney. Nothing more, nothing less."

Duncan stared up at me with his wide blue eyes. And finally, he said, "Whatever you say, Princess."

Ear drums broke, buildings fell, and people died. Probably. When I finished screaming, I slammed a fist into Duncan's jewels so hard I'm surprised they didn't concave. Tears sprouted from his eyes and slid down his face. "Mommy," he squeaked.

I struggled to get away while he struggled to stop crying. When the pain was finally ebbing away, he asked, "Why?"

"Because I told you that you lost the right to call me those names. To you, I'm just Courtney and we'll never be any different," I explained coldly. I was tired of telling him over and over. I wish he'd just understand. "There's never going to be an us again."

Pain flashed in Duncan's eyes and for the first time, I saw real remorse cross his face. "But I'm sorry?"

"No, you're not," I snapped. "If you were sorry, you would have told me the second you left that stupid airplane bathroom. You wouldn't have kissed her again, let alone date her, and you would have at least tried to make it up to me. It's too late to be sorry now that you're alone."

I swear I saw a tear fall from his eyes but it was probably just a trick of the light. Or because his kiwi's still ached. But just as soon as I saw it, the same old Duncan came back and the remorse ebbed from his face.

"Look Prin- Courtney, I don't say this often so just try to hear me out. Yes, cheating on you was wrong and I know I rubbed it in your face but I felt suffocated. You had your rules and it was like you were trying to changed me into someone I wasn't. Gwen didn't do that and that's why I chose her."

I winced and looked away, refusing to meet him in the eye. But Duncan's speech wasn't over yet.

"But Gwen wasn't perfect either; she hated being hated and was ashamed to be with me. She didn't like being known as the 'boyfriend stealer' so she avoided me like the plague. At least you weren't ashamed of me. Your parents didn't like me, your friends thought I was garbage but you stuck with me and Gwen couldn't."

"Duncan, I don't want to be compared to Gwen. That's not fair," I whispered.

"Just hear me out, okay? You have no idea how much I've thought this over and so I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry." Duncan's rant was finally finished and I stared down at him. He only had sincerity in his eyes.

But then again, I saw that same look in his eyes when he told me he loved me and look where that turned out.

"I forgive you," I finally said. "But there is no us anymore. You broke my heart and I don't think there's anything you can do to fix it."

Nobody said anything as we both looked away. Finally, when the silence was too much to bear, I said, "Let's get out of this basket already."

It was a lot harder than you'd think. Duncan ended up having to punch out the sides of the basket to make more wiggle room so I could free my legs. When I finally stood up, both my feet were asleep and it took about two seconds for me to collapse again.

Duncan laughed but he wasn't any better. All the blood had run out of his feet and he looked like a baby walking for the first time. Five minutes later, we were both walking normally.

I tried to ignore the awkwardness and got straight down to business. "Okay so the hot air balloon didn't work, neither did anything else we tried so maybe we should try looking around the whole island. Maybe something washed up that could help us; a All-Stars poster washed up so maybe a boat did as well."

Duncan looked up, "What poster?"

"The first day we made it to the beach I found a Total Drama All-Stars poster. It was ripped pretty badly and not all the cast was there but I'm pretty sure it's All-Stars," I explained.

"Where is it now?" Obsession mumch?

"I used it to start the fire, why?" I crossed my arms. This was getting annoying. Why was this stupid poster so important to him?

"There's something fishy going on here..." Duncan trailed off with his eyes narrowed.

Fish are friends, not food.

Moving on, not once in all the years I've known him did Duncan look so deep in thought. The island insanity must be setting in and the first symptom was paranoia. "Listen, it's getting late so why don't you just go to bed and I'll scavenge for some berries. We can look around the island tomorrow, okay?"

Duncan must just be tired. A good night's rest will do both of us some good. But now that we don't have any shelter since they balloon was destroyed. Since neither of us wanted to sleep in the forest, we'd have to sleep under a tree that was a few meters out of the forest. It didn't have a lot of shelter but hopefully it wouldn't rain.

As if on cue, I felt a raindrop hit the top of my head. Then another and then _CRACK! _Lightning struck and it was like someone up in the clouds decided to turn on a shower. Rain soaked me to the bone in seconds and I let out a sigh. _Really? _

"Goodnight, Duncan," I grumbled. I could barely hear him say 'goodnight' back to me over the sound of thunder and rain.

I tried to shield myself as I ran to the small trail we've created to collect berries. Once I was safely under the canopy of trees, the rain lightened up and I had about half as much raindrops hitting me.

The trail of carvings was a good way to know where I was going because there was at least one carving on each of the trees that ran along our small trail. I'd never really looked at them, other than the first few, but I imagined they were all skulls or genitals. But today, I decided to look at Duncan's 'art.'

Skull... men's body part... Duncan's name... another skull... more genitals... nothing.

I stopped at the bare tree. It was the one tree on the entire path that didn't have a carving on it. I looked down the path to see all of the trees had some messy scratches on it and one even had Chris's face with an X through it. Then what was so special about this tree?

I circled the tree, not seeing anything immediately. Maybe he just missed it?

I was about to go collect berries when I spotted it. Some small scratches at the base of the tree, carved onto a twisted root and hidden by a fallen branch. I pulled the branch off to get the full picture and when I saw it, I stumbled back.

Have you ever had someone break your heart? It hurt, right? No, 'hurt' is too mild of a word. It tore your heart in two and seeing him with someone else crushed the pieces. Slowly but surely, I started to put the pieces back together and pick myself up. It was hard, trust me, but I did it. And now, being stuck on this island and seeing this carving made my heart break all over again.

I don't want to go through that agony again. But I miss him _so _much that it's almost unbearable. Tears filled my eyes and I collapsed on the ground as they slid down my face, mixing in with the rain. _I was finally moving on! Finally getting over you but now I'm back where I started... You're just going to ruin me again._

On the base of the tree, a messy heart was carved in with two letters in the center:

DxC

**Aw, they still have feelings for each other! And haha good on you guys because you all knew the balloon plan wouldn't work. Also, please never let me publish two stories at once, ever again. I have another story on my Fictionpress account called Post Mortem (my username is Ted Bundy if you want to check it out) and trying to update all of them is so stressful! I know other people have more than that but I guess I'm just not good enough at multi tasking!**

**Question of the Day **

**DxC or DxG?**


	6. Man Gel

...**Twelve reviews. Twelve.**

**I'm just going to let that sink in for a minute**

**Has it sunk in? Because I still cannot believe it! I even had some people say they liked DxG better but they were still reading Really?! I just can't express to you how crazy this is that two chapters ago I was asking for 25 reviews but in the back of my mind I was thinking that me actually reaching my goal was a long shot and now you amazing people went out and gave me TWELVE reviews for one chapter! **

**Pardon me being a complete white girl, but I just can't even right now...**

**Reviews**

**Guest - Thank you! Here's your update :) **

**RedHornedUnicorn - That means so much to me, you have no idea! I expected that everyone would be a DxC fan but the fact that I'm attracting other ships is so crazy! And haha I wouldn't hurt you! If you yelled at me for supporting DxC over DxG then I might have to hit you with a virtual shovel but since we're all friends here then we don't have a problem ;P**

**Tiggystretch - Thanks and omg I am so glad you asked because no one else has! Okay so Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy are American serial killers. Dahmer would cut up his victims and either eat them, rape them, burn their body parts in acid, or store them in the fridge. Ted Bundy would attract girls and be really nice and then BAM! He'd kill 'em and was necrophile. Dahmer killed like 17 boys and Bundy killed 30 women. I don't know why I wanted their names but I thought it'd be funny if someone saw Jeffrey Dahmer writing fanfiction... **

**idk - I love it too when someone mentions my country :) I've been to Indonesia before and it's SO beautiful there! And I went to this monkey forest and there were little baby monkeys and they were just Dawww! I loved it!**

**DannyPhantom619 - Yes! I agree fully with you!**

**Curcle - I personally liked DxC better (obviously...) because I liked how they had the whole opposites attract thing going on. But to each their own :)**

**Tifa2646 - Haha no doubt about it!**

**Rockgod123 - Yes! **

**iceandfire105 - I'm not here to bash any ships but I am a supporter of DxC :) I thought they were so cute together and I hated how they broke up! Yaaay! I know that sounds bad for when you say your heart broke but I was aiming for that reaction so I'm so glad I got it! And I feel your struggle! I've seen an author with literally 300 unfinished stories. I could not imagine starting 300 stories, let alone all at once!**

**Jazzy411 - That's my biggest writing fear! I can handle writers block but I'm terrified of losing the inspiration and disappointing everyone. A good tip I have is to always lead one chapter into the next. So like what I did in the last chapter is I said they'd explore the island, this chapter will be about exploring the island. And I'll drop something in this chapter so it leads into the next :) Also, is it okay if I shorten your username to just Jazzy411? Because that's what I've been doing and I'm not sure if it annoys you or not!**

**Sideshowjazz1 - DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR THAT RANT! It was beautiful and expressed all my thoughts about DxCxG to the T! To add to that, I feel like the writers of the show got so much backlash for it that in All-Stars they just decided to end Duncan relationships completely instead of trying to please everyone.**

* * *

Pretending like my feelings weren't slowly creeping up on me was harder than I thought.

After I saw the whole DxC carving, I spent a good hour, crying and getting slammed with flashbacks of Total Drama Island, our kisses, our pet raccoon and all our crazy fights that always sent a rush of excitement and lust through my spine. Everything that I had been ignoring had shown up and now I'm trying desperately to pretend like Duncan was the equivalent to poo.

And it was hard. Trust me when I say that I have never needed more willpower in my life. I couldn't help but ogle his piercings, stare deep into his blue eyes, and fawn over his green mohawk that was defying all laws of physics by still standing up after days of being stuck on this island. Seriously, Duncan was trapped on this island with nothing but berries and leaves and still managed to keep his hair perfect.

Actually, that doesn't sound possible now that I think about it...

"Duncan, how's your hair still perfect if you don't have any gel or whatever guys use?" I asked. After Duncan shot me a sly smirk did I realize my mistake. Never _ever _say 'Duncan' and 'perfect' in the same sentence!

"Well I'm just perfect all around," Duncan winked and my cheeks exploded in color.

_Stop blushing, Courtney! _I internally screamed. _You do not like him!_

"Just answer the question," I snapped. And then for good measure, I added, "Ogre."

"With this," Duncan said. He pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it over the dwindling fire for me to catch. He had caught some fish this morning and we were slowly cooking them before we set off on our journey of exploring the island.

I looked down at the small container in my hand. It was about the size of my palm and black with a label on it that said _Man Gel: The Only Hair Product that Doesn't Lower Your Masculinity. _"Where did you get this? Did you just carry it in your pocket when Chris bailed you from jail and shoved you in a balloon?"

"No, I found it," Duncan answered casually. He pulled the two sticks with fish jammed on the end, out of the heat and handed one to me. It was still too hot to eat but dang did it smell delicious!

"You _found _hair gel? On a deserted island?" I clarified and he nodded. "If there was a giant _Man Gel _factory then maybe I could understand but this kind of stuff doesn't just appear in the middle of the forest!"

"That's because I didn't find it in the middle of a forest, Court. I found it on the shore while fishing a few days ago," Duncan said and took a giant bite of his fish. "I fouf if as eirf oo."

"Sorry, I don't speak idiot," I replied bluntly.

Duncan swallowed the meat in his mouth. "Well I don't speak C.I.T," he retorted.

"You mean English?"

Duncan opened his mouth to say something but then when he realized his mistake, he closed his mouth again. Finally, after a moment of silence, he said, "Anyway, I _said _that I thought it was weird too."

I turned the gel over in my hands to look at the bottom. There was the list of ingredients, warnings and precautions but nothing out of the ordinary. I was about to turn it back over when something caught my eye. In the corner of the label was two small scratches. It was hard to see but it looked like the Greek letter for sigma and then a wide U under it.

So what, a fraternity sent Duncan hair gel? Maybe Duncan was onto something when he thought something about the poster was weird.

I swallowed the rest of the fish (or at least the edible part) and wiped the grease on my pants. By now, they were smudged with dirt, grease, berry juice, and other liquids that I didn't know how they got there. "Let's get moving. I picked some berries yesterday so we can stop when it gets too hot."

Duncan mumbled something through his full mouth of fish but I just rolled my eyes and stood up. Whatever he was trying to say probably wasn't very important. Slinging a weaved basket of supplies over my shoulder, I started trekking over the rocks. By 'trekking' I mean trying my hardest not to roll make ankle.

"Hey, wait up!" Duncan yelled. A few seconds later, he was standing beside me, huffing a bit. I glanced back to see we were literally only a few steps from where he had sat down.

Holy, that boy was out of shape.

"C'mon Duncan, the island isn't going to travel itself," I snapped and picked up the pace.

"The island isn't going to move either, sweetheart." I let the nickname slide, this time. "We have all day to walk around it; there's no reason to get your panties in a bunch."

My eyes twitched and I wanted desperately to hit him over the head. With a rock. _Just kidding, I would never do that because I'm in lo-_

I stopped myself and started stomping over the rocks at a faster pace. I could not think about him or these stupid school girl feelings would only grow!

"Uh, Court? Why are you walking so fast?" Duncan asked and tried walking faster to catch up with me. "I was just kidding about the whole panties thing! Your panties are as smooth and wrinkle free as-"

"Stop. Talking," I snarled out and gave him the nastiest glare I could muster. Which is pretty darn nasty if you ask me. "You're giving me a migraine."

"Is it my sexy voice or toned body that's making you head spin?" Duncan winked and I rolled my eyes. But inside I was thinking, _A little bit of both._

"How long have you been waiting to use that one?" I asked evenly. At least I managed to keep my voice even unlike some of the girls at my high school. One second they're talking like the Hulk and then a boy walks in and they're Mickey Mouse.

"About three years," Duncan replied. Thankfully, we kept walking in silence. Most of what we passed looked the same as our camp spot and we didn't find anymore posters or hair get laying around. I thought I saw something bobbing up and down near the shore but when we got closer, we saw that it was only a piece of wood.

Which a shark continued to eat.

"This place is so weird," I muttered as we watched the shark swim away. We started walking again.

The rocks started to get bigger as we walked and harder to keep up a good pace with. Or at least for me. Duncan seemed to have no problem walking along the baseball sized rocks while I was walking at a snails pace so I didn't accidently trip and break an ankle or something. Because what's one thing worse than being stuck on an island? Being stuck on an island with a broken limb.

Duncan was about three paces ahead of me when he found _it. _He let out a shrill scream and dropped to the ground, keeling over and clutching something close to his chest.

I was so startled at I screamed and took a step back onto a loose stone. The rock moved and I fell to the side, rolling my ankle in the process. "Duncan, what is it?" I cried, cradling my ankle as he slowly turned around, still in the fetal position.

And when he looked up, I could see tears welling up in his eyes and my heart stopped. _Oh God, he's dead! He's dying! He has leprosy and he'll pass it on to me and then we'll both have leprosy and die together!_

But then, he held out his hands, still clasped around _it. _My face paled. Sweat burst from my skin. My heart beat a mile a minute as he slowly opened his hands to reveal...

_Man Dye: The Only Hair Product that Doesn't Lower Your Masculinity: Electric Green._

I stared at the small tube in his hands with unblinking eyes. A small tear fell from his eye as he clutched the dye closer to his chest again.

"It's even the right colour!" he squealed. "My hair had been looking _super _faded since..." Duncan seemed to notice his little slip and cleared his throat a few times and spoke in an overly deep voice. "I mean, uh, cool. Hair dye for my mohawk... uh, monster trucks!"

I blinked. Once. Twice. And then...

"YOU MADE ME BREAK MY ANKLE FOR A TUBE OF PATHETIC HAIR DYE!?" I tried clawing myself towards him, my left leg trailing behind me as I clambered over the rocks. "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to rip your appendix out of your body, you pathetic piece of-"

"Language!" Duncan hissed. He stood up easily and shoved the tube in his ridiculously deep pockets before making his way over to where I was still sprawled on the ground. Crouching down, he gently rubbed his hand over my swelling ankle. "It doesn't look broken, just maybe twisted a bit. You should be able to walk on it but just use a branch as a cane or something."

"It's clearly broken Duncan," I scoffed as he held my ankle in his hands. "I was a C.I.T, I would know a break from a twist!"

"I've broken my ankle before, Darling. It's just twisted," he assured me, still looking down at my ankle. When he finally looked up, only then did I realize how close we were. I could feel his breath on my face and see every speck of color in his eyes. I could even see a little sliver of green in his right eye.

"My, uh... name's not..." I trailed off, getting lost in those eyes I fell in love with so many times. "...Darling..."

Duncan's hands slowly moved up my ankle to my knee, and from there it moved to my thigh and then waist. He pulled me close and I habitually wrapped me arms around his neck. I didn't even know what I was doing, I was so caught up in those beautiful blue eyes.

And then, without realizing it, I craned my neck forward and pressed my lips against his.

**BOOM! But don't start fangirling yet because this does NOT mean it's kisses and snuggles from here! They're still our favorite dysfunctional couple so I would NEVER make anything too easy on them ;)**

**Question of the Day**

**Other than Total Drama, what's your favorite fandom?**


	7. Pink Sweater Vests

**Idk - I love Teen Titans but I've never seen Adventure Time! Yes it is and trust me, I know! The little babies were adorable but there was this one monkey that was bigger than all the others and kept on chasing people around. I saw it try jumping on this one girl and she whacked it with an umbrella and ran away!**

**OfficiallyWhelmedSpitfire - Uh, actually I did mean keeling haha! It means to collapse or to kind of bend over. So like if someone punched you in the stomach, you would keel over. Thank you so much though!**

**Jacky 99- I'm not sure I know what you mean! Do you mean follow you or...? Sorry, I just didn't quite get it!**

**Awesome person - I have no idea what that is!**

**Guest - Hehe it may not have been the romantic kiss you were looking for!**

**Gogurl - You may be onto something there but trust me, there's more to Really? than you'd think :) **

**Jazzy411 - Oh good, I wouldn't want to give you some nickname that you absolutely despise! Out of your entire list, I only really recognized Rugrats and Hey Arnold (only by name though haha) and omg that's so sad when I think about it because I'm a 90's kid... And finally, thanks, here's a chapter!**

**Artemis Raven Courtney - A lot of people have guessed that but there's a whole other subplot that I haven't even introduced yet so you may be right, you may be wrong ;) we'll just have to see! Keep in mind we're only on chapter 6! I love Teen Titans! Beast Boy is my fave and I love him with either Terra or Raven!**

**iceandfire105 - AHHHHHH! I wanted to yell with you:3 And I read the Percy Jackson books so long ago but none of the related books! I didn't enjoy the movies as much though; I didn't feel like they portrayed the characters right and it was such an amazing series that could have been done a little better.**

**SideshowJazz1 - Ugh, I know what you mean. I change fandoms so much it's crazy! One second I'm shipping one couple and the next I'm ranting about a character death! I try to keep focused at one at a time so I don't lose inspiration for one of my fics. Thanks! There's always tension with Court and Duncan!**

**Curcle - Haha thanks, what lightens the mood more than potty humour? I love TT too! Along with some of my other readers too. I agree completely with that one. I read one fic where Raven 'dies' but is actually only under a spell thing and even though I think it's discontinued, it's still my favorite Teen Titans fic :)**

**Gia Lara - well here's a new chapter and I think everyone in this archive loves TT because almost every review mentioned that show! What do you think about the new show, Teen Titans Go?**

* * *

**ONE MORE REVIEW TILL 50! I'VE NEVER BEEN CLOSE TO 50 BEFORE! Honestly, my first FF had 3 reviews. Three. Having 49 reviews on it's own is crazy but knowing that this story isn't even half over and I'm one away from 50 is... extraordinary :)**

* * *

My eyes snapped open when I realized what was happening. I shoved Duncan away and before he could even say "What?" my hand had slapped him across the cheek, leaving a bright red mark in the shape of my hand.

"Don't kiss me, you pig!" I screeched and leapt to my feet, forgetting about the broken ankle I had five seconds ago. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating a _little _but it doesn't matter anymore! "I can't believe you would try something like that after all of this!"

Duncan scowled and held his palm to the side of his face. There were even some small scratches that my nails had made when they came in contact with his skin. "I didn't kiss you _Princess, _you kissed me and you know it."

I huffed and crossed my arms, turning away from the punk. "I would do no such thing! I don't want to get caught up in your lies and cheating again!"

_Don't even lie Courtney. You totally kissed him and you _do _want to get caught up in his lies again... among other things. _Stupid brain! I didn't kiss him and you - uh, I? - know it!

"I was just standing here, minding my own business and you swooped in like a hawk," Duncan snapped and held up his hands in defense. "I'm the victim in this situation."

...And I'm a hawk? My rage only made my blood boil and if I were a cartoon, steam would come out of my ears. "I. Did. Not. Kiss. You."

"Yes. You. Did," Duncan said in the same voice as he took a step forward, getting into my face. If I were the same Courtney that I was fifteen seconds ago, I probably would have leaned in and kissed him again. But a lot has changed in those fifteen - eighteen now - seconds and I've grown as a woman. I would _never _let my lips touch that cheating pigs ever again!

"You know," Duncan said slyly. "This reminds me of a time when a certain somebody cuddled up to me on Total Drama Island."

My eyes widened as I was sent into a flashback.

_My eyes blinked open only to see I was lying on some kind of soft black cloth. Really soft and comfortable black cloth... I was too drowsy to figure out that this 'cloth' was actually a person. It took me a second to make out the white blob on the cloth and my entire heart sunk when I figured out it was a skull. And only one person on this island wears a black and white skull shirt._

_"Morning sunshine," a voice said and I looked up to see those vile blue eyes._

_I was cuddling up to Duncan._

_I pushed myself away from him. "Oh my gosh, ew! You were cuddling me!" I yelped and got to my feet. He still had that easy going look on his face as he pulled himself up into a seated position._

_"I was calmly lying on my back and trying to catch a few Z's. You were snuggling up to me," he smirked back and I felt my stomach churn. He was right but I wouldn't ever let him know that! Especially since we were on TV._

_"You are such an ogre," I spat._

_Duncan lay back down, probably to 'catch a few more Z's.' "I've been called worse."_

"Hello? You still in there, babe?" Duncan asked and I blinked a few times to rid myself of the horrible-y fantastic memory. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Huh?" I blinked.

"I said this reminded me of the time you snuggled up to me on TDI and kept on denying it even though we both knew it was you." He laughed out loud and I put on my best non-caring face.

"Funny. I don't remember anything like that," I said, turning my head away from him. "Anyway, let's just keep moving and if you ever try kissing me again, you're going to have to pay the ultimate price."

Duncan made a fake scared face. "Ooh, I'm shaking! What could you ever possibly do to me?" he asked sarcastically as I started walking away.

"I don't know, I'm sure all of your little friends would live to read those love poems you sent me." I glanced back to see one of Duncan's eyes were twitching and his arms were tensed, making his hands flex. "Or maybe hear about the flowers you picked for my mom. I bet they'd love the part where you played golf with my dad wearing one of his _pink sweater vests."_

"Okay, okay, you win!" Duncan held up his hands in surrender. "I won't let you kiss me again but please don't tell anyone about those stuff! That's between you and me!"

"Good." I smirked, crossing my arms in satisfaction. "It was a pleasure doing business with you."

"Is that what you call business?" Duncan huffed. "That's what I call blackmail."

"Whatever, let's just start walking again," I rolled my eyes and started walking. After about five minutes after the rush of kissing him wore off, my ankle started to hurt again. But I was a C.I.T and I could handle a little pain.

Actually, scratch that. I lasted about another ten steps before collapsed on a big gray rock with a large X scratched on it. Probably from Duncan and his need to violate every abiotic thing on this planet. "Ugh, my ankle is killing me!"

"Well I'm not checking it out. You'll probably try and kiss me again and we cannot have that," Duncan said, winking.

"Please. You're still not my type," I responded.

"That's why you dated, kissed me, got a matching tattoo with me, whispered dirty things in my ear...right?" Duncan smirked and I scowled.

"Sweater vest, Duncan. Just keep reminding yourself that whenever you open your mouth."

Duncan paled and I smiled happily. Ah, there's nothing like causing Duncan more emotional stress. "Just let me catch my breath and we can keep on going. I might need to stop every so often because of my broken-"

"Twisted."

"-ankle," I finished, flashing a glare at Duncan. I moved my ankle a few times without any striking pain hitting me so I figured I could walk a little further. "Okay, let's go."

It went on like that for two more hours and we hadn't even cleared half of the island yet. I even tried hopping a bit but with the rocks, I just ended up falling and twisting my other ankle even worse than the first. By then, I was literally crawling on the ground, refusing to give up. I am Courtney and I do _not _give up.

"Okay, that's it." I heard from behind me before I felt my entire body being lifted off the ground.

"Duncan, what are you doing?" I hissed, slapping Duncan's chest. He was carrying me bridal style and as much as it was a relief on my ankles, I didn't want to give _either _of us any ideas. Sometimes I can't control where my lips go and Duncan... well, nobody can control that guy.

"We're moving at a snails pace. If you weren't so stubborn, we would have made it all the way around the island by now and if I keep letting you drag yourself on like that, we'll get back to camp by tomorrow morning. So don't argue, just let me carry you," Duncan explained and I sighed.

"Duncan, I can list a thousand reasons why you shouldn't carry me. First, I'm _way _too heavy to be carried for-"

Duncan dropped me. I landed roughly on my butt and even though it hurt, my pride was more wounded. I guess I actually _was _too heavy for him to carry me. He knelt down so we were eye level and I expected him to give me a sheepish grin and say, "Oops." But of course, Duncan just had to surprise me.

"If you ever say that again, I'm going to drop you in the lake. _Do not _call yourself fat because you aren't. You're beautiful and I'm so sick of seeing girls walk around, thinking horribly about themselves because one stupid person called them a name. Got it, Princess?" I nodded slowly and he cracked a grin. "Good."

Duncan picked me up again and I didn't say another word for another twenty minutes. I didn't want to bruise my butt any more than it already was.

I had to finally break my silence when I spotted something bobbing at the shore, It looked a rectangular box of some kind but I couldn't see from so far away and I lost my contacts a few days ago. When I say a few days ago, I mean yesterday when I cried myself to death in the forest. "What's that?" I pointed to the box.

"One sec, I'll check," Duncan said, carefully setting me down on a nearby log. That log just so happened to be a pine tree too so just when I started to think Duncan was becoming a decent human being, I get pines in my butt. This day is completely ruining me.

I watched as Duncan jogged to the shore, tripping once over a rock but picking himself up again, and fishing the box out of the water using a piece of driftwood. He didn't even open to box until he came back to me and I could see it was a plastic box. He pried off the lid to see that inside of it was..

...A book?

Okay, something fishy is definitely going on here. And it wasn't just a book, it was my all time _favorite _book. Purgatorio by Dante. Sure, it wasn't in my favorite translation of the ancient Italian book but it was still Purgatorio! This was just too strange to be coincidence. When I looked up, I could see Duncan wearing the same confused expression on his face.

"This is too weird. I've been thinking about this for a few days but I think I've figured out why we're getting all this weird stuff, Courtney." I knew it was serious when he used my actual name. "I don't think we're alone on this island."

**Dun, dun, DUUUUUUN! Kind of...**

**Okay, so I've started to get a lot of good guesses on why all this weird stuff has been happening and a lot of you are getting pretty close but not EXACTLY what is going on. There's actually a subplot UNDER the subplot that will add a little twist at the end.**

**Anyway, this chapter was kind of a filler and I just added the last part in because why the hell not. There were a few important parts in it but compared to the other chapters, it's just to add a little to Duncan and Courtney's relationship :3**

**Oh, btw, I am FEMALE! To all those people who don't know a lot about American serial killers, my name's not actually Jeffrey.**

**Question of the Day**

**Who is you favorite cartoon villain?**

**Mine's Randall Boggs from Monsters, Inc. ;)**


	8. Failure

**Okay so first, SO thankful on 19 reviews for last chapter. I didn't even expect 19 reviews in total, let alone 68 by chapter 7. So that makes it even crazier when I ask for this...Could we maybe aim for 100 reviews by chapter 10? **

**And I also moved the reviews down to the bottom just because I don't want you guys to have to scroll through a bunch of reviews you probably don't care about!**

"What do you mean, we aren't alone?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Sure, it might be a little weird that my _favorite _book just floated up to us in a waterproof container and maybe Duncan finding his two favorite hair products was also a little strange but...

Okay nevermind. We aren't alone on this island.

"Well think about it Court, we've both gotten things that are specifically made for us, there are plants growing here that don't even grow in North America and posters of Total Drama All-Stars is just casually floating up to shore. None of this sounds realistic," Duncan finished and everything he said made sense.

Sure, some of it could be a coincidence but there's _no _way that all that would happen to us within a weeks time. No possible way. "So what do you think, then?"

"Okay, this is what I was thinking: someone must own this island, right? So whoever it is, found us and maybe they were even the people flying the plane. We're trespassing on _their _island so why not have a little fun? They saw us on Total Drama and figured this would be the perfect way to mess with us."

I thought about it and even though it came from Duncan's mouth, it did make sense. Whoever was rich enough to own an island was probably working 90% of the year. Since it's Summer, it might be their week off and they decided to have a little fun.

"That _does _make sense. They might be scientists or something and testing how certain plants grow in certain circumstances. That's why we saw so many fruits and berries that weren't native to Canada. If they are scientists, we might just be another piece of their experiment," I added and Duncan's eyebrow(s) furrowed.

"What would they be testing though? They must have seen the show so they'd know how we'd react living together on an island."

"With Chris and Chef's help! Even if we were put through torture and the food was the Devil's way of getting inside you, we still weren't in any danger. Now, we're stranded with no real survival skills, other than my C.I.T skills of course, and no one to help us. This is a completely different situation and what if they're just waiting for us to crack?"

Duncan rubbed his temples with two fingers before sitting down beside me. "This is just too crazy... I have to think about this for a second before we keep going."

I gently laid a hand on his back and rubbed circles. It was stressful being on the island as it was, let alone being on the island as lab rats in some twisted experiment. Or so we thought; there's the small chance that all of this was a strange coincidence.

Who am I kidding? All of the pieces of this messed up puzzle were falling into place and it all made perfect sense. The plants, the dye, the book... I remember when I auditioned for Total Drama, I filled out a questionnaire that asked me what my favorite book, movie, etc. was. Those answers were probably released to the public or I mentioned them on the show.

Either answer is possible and nothing is too crazy considering the things we've been on.

"Look, I think the best thing we can do now is walk the rest of the island and then when we get back to camp, we can talk more about it. It's getting late and if we don't get a move on, we won't be back by nightfall," I said softly. I know, being friendly to the enemy is _not _a Courtney trait but finding out you're a lab rat it stressful to say the least. I don't blame him for freaking out.

"Yeah...yeah, you're right," Duncan admitted and I felt of swell of pride. _Of course I'm right! _"For once."

The swell of pride diminished. Quickly.

"Let's just go," I breathed and crossed my arms. I felt myself get lifted up again and we continued on our way.

It took another two hours for us to walk around the entirety of the shore and when we finally got back to camp, the sun was already set, Duncan's arms were tired and we were both hungry and exhausted. This time, he didn't even carefully put me down, he just dropped me on the rocks for the second time. There's no doubt in my mind that I would be bruised tomorrow.

I watched as Duncan walked a few steps towards the forest where he could sleep on moss and leaves but he only made it about three feet before dropping and passing out. "Is he dead?" I muttered and tried rubbing my eyes like it would give me super health examining skills or something. He wasn't moving. "Yeah, probably dead."

_Maybe I should go check on him... _Pause. _Nah, I'll deal with him in the morning._

And then I passed out.

* * *

I woke up to see four blurry silhouettes standing over me. Two were very darkly dressed and the other two were dressed in neutral colors. Like a business person would wear. _Like my parents would wear..._

My eyes shot open and I stood up to see that it was indeed my mother and father wearing beige and gray suits and skirts, respectively of course. "M-mother? Father? What's going on? Was this all a dream or something?"

"No honey, we've been here the whole time," Mother cooed as she flattened my hair on my head. Her fingers were cold. "We were just testing you."

"Testing me?" I repeated dumbly. Father looked down at me with that disapproving look and made a _tsk _sound, shaking his head.

"I thought you would have figured it out by now. This was all a test, Courtney," Father said and turned away from me. He was disappointed at me for not figuring it out sooner. "We're your 'scientists' that have been sending you all those gifts. We wanted to see how you would react to the different variables and see if you're worthy."

"Worthy? B-but that doesn't make any sense! You're lawyers, not scientists," I pointed out and they both laughed as if my entire being was just one big joke. "So what, am I worthy?"

"You're still on the island," Mother said as she continued to pet my hair down with those long, cold fingers.

"So...?"

"You're not worthy," Father deadpanned and I felt a stab to the heart.

"Of what?" I asked, ducking my head away from Mother's fingers.

"Of being part of our family, dear," Mother said and stood up, her green eyes suddenly becoming cold. I looked up at my Father but he turned away. I was unwelcome. "You aren't one of us anymore."

I wanted to say something, oh how desperately I wanted to cry out and remind her that I was her daughter but they were already walking away. I watched as they walked away, leaving me on the rocks and disappearing into the forest, probably to tell my Aunts and Uncles that their little experiment was a failure. That _I _was a failure.

I stood up to chase after them but then I remembered the other two 'silhouette's' in the room. I slowly turned around to the sound of giggling to see Duncan and... Gwen? When they saw me staring at them, they looked up and their eyes filled with hate. "What are _you _looking at?" Gwen snarled.

"G-Gwen? Were you part of this? Of this experiment?" I gasped, stumbling back. I thought we were friends! Or at least until I betrayed her...

Gwen laughed humourlessly. "No, I was just here to make sure Duncan didn't go crazy around you. I mean, I would, having to spend _every _day with you."

"Duncan?" I stepped forward. It was the slowest seconds of my life; my hand outreached to grasp his shoulder and him taking a step back. He pushed my hand away and sent me a glare that was as icy as the colour of his eyes. "Duncan, please..."

"No, Courtney, you're a failure," he spat and I flinched back. That _name. _If he had called me Princess or babe or darling or anything else, it wouldn't have hurt but he called me Courtney. "_Courtney_?" The name sounded like venom.

"Courtney," he sneered. "Courtney? Courtney. _CourtneyCourtneyCourtneyCourtney-"_

"SHUT UP!" I shrieked and suddenly everything changed.

I was on the ground and Duncan was standing over me again but this time, there was no Mother or Father or Gwen or _that name. _What was happening? Was this all a dream?

_A dream, _I breathed out in relief as it hit me. I wasn't a failure, I was dreaming! I almost laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of it all but the pain of being called a failure was still fresh in my mind.

"Courtney-"

"Stop calling me that!" I yelled standing up. "For God's sake, my name is Princess, not Courtney!"

Duncan took a step back looking confused and startled. "But you said that you hated it when I called you Princess?" He blinked. He then waved his hands as if to cross out his own sentence. "Never mind, Cour- uh, Princess - we have a bigger problem on our hands."

"A bigger problem than being stranded on an island and being tested by evil scientists?" I asked and he nodded. "We're screwed. What happened?"

"I found something," Duncan started. "And I'm not just talking about hair dye or some old books."

"Purgatorio is not just some _old _book!" I snapped. "It's ancient literature-"

"That doesn't matter right now!" Duncan interrupted and grabbed both sides of my face, forcing me to look into those blue eyes of his. They held no hatred like Dream Duncan "I told you, we have a bigger problem!"

"Then just tell me what is going on?" I snapped. I was still shaken from the dream and I couldn't deal with Duncan right now.

"I found a... I think it'd just be better if I showed you," Duncan sighed. "Follow me."

He didn't say another word as he started walking towards the shore where he usually fished. He always casted out in the same spot every morning and he _always _caught us more than enough. So what could he have found, a mutated fish? On this island, that wouldn't surprise me.

I reached the little cliff that he usually fished off of and felt my gut drop. The 'surprise' was tangled in our net made of vines and roots. It hung limply and was laying flat on a boulder below us. It definitely wasn't a mutated fish but I would have been a hundred percent happier if it had been.

It was a skeleton.

**A bit shorter than I usually do but it was obviously a pretty important chapter!**

**Question of the Day**

**Just for the sake of starting a gender war, who do you think has it worse, boys or girls?**

**Reviews**

**DannyPhantom619 - Yeah I can tell what your favorite fandom is! I'd be surprised if you said anything else! And I've never really watched Danny Phantom before but I hear it's good. And I agree, I obviously know the fate of their relationship in this fic but I'm hoping there's some more Duncney in the real show. I don't think there will be though because I feel like they tried pleasing both Gwuncan and Duncney fans and it didn't work so they just cut off any Duncan relationships.**

**Gia Lara - Creepy ones you've got there! I've never played Slenderman before but some friends of mine did and they posted their reactions on YouTube! I don't know if it's still up though.**

**Idk - Me too! But her and little ol' Flashy Washy (ignore me, I'm weird) got together and now she's not as evil! And yeah, they're different. Jeff the Killer is a photoshopped picture that made the Internet blow up and stuff and Jeffrey Dahmer's an actual person.**

**Artmeis Raven Courtney - Me too! They're just so cute! And I've never really been huge in the Batman cartoon fandom but what do you think makes Batwoman stand out to you? I heard a lot of people say Joker!**

**Jacky 99 - No problem, I was just a little confused there :) And thank you! That's honestly so sweet of you!**

**Jazzy411 - Yeah there have obviously been some twists that no one is expecting! I want my readers to keep guessing until the last chapter! YEEEEES I love Harley! I really want them to make a real people movie with her in it because I think it'd be SO cool! I'm really into acting so if there was one role I could play, I would LOVE to be Harley Quinn. **

**ScribblerXD - Thanks for all the reviews! Wow, okay, where to start... Okay we'll start from latest review and work back! Joker and Loki: I love the Joker and every interpretation of him has been amazingly creepy. This is why people are scared of clowns. I know what you mean about the 'hmm' part because it was definitely a little rough at the beginning. And as I typed this chapter, I was watching How to Train Your Dragon! Haha that's funny because whenever someone says 'it's just a show' or 'it's just a character' I want to slap them. Hard. I love Shawn! He was so cooky and one of the best characters from the show! I liked TDPI but I haven't watched TDROTI yet... and I probably won't. But I agree with your very first review, nothing beats the original! AHHH I got every review in this huge paragraph and I couldn't mention everything but all I have left to say is that I'm looking forward to your next review! They make me laugh :3**

**Hat wearing girl - I've never seen Grojband but I had another reviewer who liked it! Maybe I should start watching it...**

**SideshowJazz1 - Thanks and you'll find out...eventually. I loved Sideshow Bob and he's in the Tapped Out game. Kudos to you for figuring out what disorder he has because I would never have been able to do that. Are you really big on psychology because I find it really interesting too, I just never have time to indulge on it.**

**iceandfire105 - Haha making them alone would make it too easy and you know we can't have that. What's Court better at than blackmail? haha! And nobody will slaughter you but you're definitely the first person who reviewed to say that. She was waaaaay eviler in the first season though.**

**OfficiallyWhelmedSpitfire - You're welcome! When you first reviewed I was like 'shoot, I've been killing people off every chapter' but then I got my crap together and Googled it, just to be sure ;) Joker! Gah, I love him!**

**Johanna. Padilla.5 - I haven't seen Kim Possible in forever! I kind of miss it now... and yeah Duncan _totally _has feelings for her but they'd never admit it. **

**Guest - hmmm, we'll have to see about this but you're on to something there. Voldemort is pretty evil so who cares if he's not a cartoon ;)**


	9. Rigor Mortis

**My account is being really weird... I won't go into details but it's one of the reasons this chapter took a little longer to get up. Another reason is also that I write a bunch of stories without posting them :3 I write them because I love writing and I just need to see my ideas in front of me, taking form, but I don't post because it's too difficult to handle any more stories. So at the moment I have an X-Men FF and another Wrriors FF that won't be posted until my current fanfics are completed:) They'll be great though, I promise.**

**ONCE AGAIN, REVIEW REPLIES WILL BE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER JUST SO THERE ISN'T SO MUCH TO SCROLL THROUGH!**

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I stared at the body with a mixture of horror and confusion.

So many questions were running through my mind that I literally thought I was going to have a meltdown if I didn't get some answers. First off, why was there a dead body. Secondly, who was it? And finally, WHAT IS GOING ON?!

Okay, the scientists doing experiments on us is a good reason for all this chaos and maybe they decided to throw in another variable, just for the heck of it. But that only brought up more questions like where they got the body in the first place. The bones looked old and if I were a scientist, I wouldn't just go around dumping ancient bones on random islands for giggles.

Maybe when you donate your body to science, that means you're allowing this to happen? Ugh, I am unregistering for _that _program.

"Whose body is it?" Duncan asked.

We had laid the body out so it was lying on dry rock. If it had flesh and stuff, it'd look like it was sunbathing.

"I can't tell. It's a male though and clearly an adult," I answered. At that moment, all the things I learned from watching too much _Bones _started coming back to me. I leaned down and picked up his skull and moved it around in my hands, trying to find any hint about what had happened to this man. "Judging by the rate of decomposition, he's been dead for a few years. Maybe around five to ten?"

"How do you know that?" Duncan frowned.

I rolled my eyes and lied through my teeth. "Duncan, please, I took a forensic anthropology over summer. Learning about decomposition is the basics. Seriously, you should get out more." That was a complete lie. I've never taken a forensic anthropology course in my life; I don't even know if those are a thing!

But I'm not about to let Duncan know that.

"Well then what else can you tell me?" Duncan challenged, crossing his arms. "Oh wise one."

I huffed and studied the bones a little more closely. "Let's see... he doesn't have any nicks or breaks in his bones so my guess is that he drowned. Or killed himself. Either way, he's dead now and part of this crazy experiment."

Duncan's blue eyes widened. "So you still think this is just another part of our 'scientists theory?' That this guys just donated his body to science and this is what became of him?"

I shrugged. "Well what other explanation is there? This island is clearly unexplored and I doubt this guy was just a random person, living life to the fullest on some strange, messed up island. This _has _to be just another variable in the plan, to see how we react in a life or death situation. It has to be."

Duncan still looked uneasy and I completely understood. The 'mad scientists testing on teenagers' was a longshot to begin with and throwing in a skeleton didn't help either. All we could do was try to figure this entire thing out before they threw in another variable; one that could be fatal. "Look, why don't you just study the bones and I'll grab us something to eat, okay?"

"Ugh yeah, no more fish for me," I winced, rubbing my stomach. "I'm not eating anything that came out of the water now."

"What about one of the ones in the forest?" There were plenty of small lakes and streams around our little path to the berry patches. That's how we weren't dying of dehydration; we were drinking from the streams. Let's just hope there isn't any dead bodies floating around at the top of the mountain.

"I guess those are fine. I mean, I have to drink something," I sighed, wrinkling my nose.

"See you Princess," Duncan saluted and started marching away, only to stop and turn around with a quizzical look on his face. "By the way, what made you start liking Princess?"

My face fell when I remembered the dream. My parents thought I was a failure, Duncan thought I was nothing, and even my on-again-off-again friend thought I was nothing more than scum on the bottom of her shoe. "I'll, uh, tell you later."

Duncan narrowed his eyes. "I'm holding you to that." Thankfully, he left.

I picked up each bone, one at a time and started examining them. I found a some small fractures in the guy's knees and on his fingers. It looked like he once had a broken arm that healed before he died. Other than that, he was pretty much spotless. Well, a few missing teeth but other than that, he was fine. Nothing stood out to me that screamed murder.

The thing that struck me most about him though was that he wasn't wearing any clothes, other than some destroyed, once leather, boots and a rusted compass around his neck. That means he must have been wearing all biodegradable clothing like wool or cotton. I just couldn't ever imagine an entire outfit being _completely _biodegradable.

Lot's of fabrics today are mixed so not everything would be 100% cotton or wool. Sometimes it's mixed with synthetic fabrics like polyester. And if it was a man, he'd probably have things like elastics in his boxers or even a zipper on his jacket or pants that wouldn't break down. There's obviously the possibility that he was wearing a completely eco-friendly outfit but it's just hard to believe that anyone in the 21st century would wear _only _a certain kind of fabric, let alone a kind that would break down in about five years.

I played around with the bones a little more and even banged one on a rock a bit. It small piece chipped off. _If you drank a little more milk when you were alive then maybe your bones wouldn't be so brittle..._

"Hey, what'd you find out?" I glanced up to see it was Duncan, walking towards me with a handful of berries and a big leaf, filled with water. I put the bone down and rinsed my hands off in the water so I could eat my food without getting dead guy on my berries.

"Not much. He only wore cotton, his bones are brittle so that means rigor mortis set in before he dies. Other than that-"

"Wait, wait, wait, what did you just say?" Duncan laughed and I pulled a face.

"Rigamortis set in before he died?"

Duncan burst out laughing and even rolled on the ground a little. Finally, when he caught his breath, he managed to yell out, "I know something science-y that you don't!"

My face turned red and my hands formed fists. "What are you talking about, ogre?"

"Rigor mortis is when your body goes stiff after you die!" Duncan laughed and I scowled when I realized he was right. Even then, I was _Princess Courtney, _and I was not going to admit that I was wrong.

"No you imbecile, it means your bones get brittle. So if it sets in before he dies, he suffered from a lack of calcium and if it set in after he dies, it means the bacteria are slowly eating at his bones. Take a science class before you accuse me of not knowing something." Maybe I'm the one who should take an extra class.

"Whatever, darling, just admit that you're wrong and we can move on with our lives," Duncan smirked and brushed a pretend piece of flint off his shoulder. That only made me more determined to prove I was right.

"I won't admit I'm wrong when I know I'm right!" I snapped and crossed my arms. "Where do you even get your stupid information from?"

"_The Addams Family _song. You know, the one that's like, 'when you're an Addams..'" Duncan smirked.

I rolled my eyes. "So you're going to trust a children's TV show over a girl who got the highest mark in her biology class?" Also a lie, I was actually a close second to Sheldon Tanners. The only reason he beat me was because of that one time I was sick and missed an assignment. I tried getting my mark back up but the rat still beat me by the time the semester was over...

"Princess? You there?" I blinked a few times to see Duncan snapping in front of my face.

"I'm here! I was just thinking about something," I sighed and pushed his hand away from my face. "Anyway, that's all I got from the bones but it can't tell me anything else. We'll just have to try to get a few steps ahead of those scientists if we ever want to get off this island."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Duncan grinned and I blanked.

"Uh, no?"

Duncan's face fell. "Oh... well I was going to say that we should explore the rest of the island tomorrow. We explored the shoreline but now we have to go into the forest."

I gulped and looked at the forest in fear. As if on cue, a wolf started howling and I jumped a little closer to Duncan. When I looked up, I saw his eyes had softened and it reminded me of a time on Total Drama Island when he had looked at me for the first time like that. I pulled my self away from him and I swear I saw his face fall a little. I cleared my throat and pretended it never happened. "I want to figure out a little more about the skeleton and the random gifts we've ben getting before we run into the woods in search of some evil lair."

"Yeah, sure. In a few days we can go check out the forest and in the meantime, we'll figure out as much as we can with what we've got," Duncan offered and I nodded, relieved. I _really _did not want to go into those woods.

After I finished my supper, I faked a yawn and stretched my arms out. "Well, this is too much stress for one day, I'm going to go to sleep." I started walking away but froze when Duncan spoke up again.

"Not so fast. You have to tell me what's with the whole Courtney-Princess thing. Your mood swings confuse me and I can't take any more of it!" Duncan yelled, pulling at his freshly dyed mohawk. He really did put that hair dye to good use and may I say that he's looking as hot as ever!

Ugh, I can't believe I just thought that. I do _not _think Duncan is hot! Not his mohawk, or his piercings or the little bit of facial hair he has on his chin. I _especially _hate those icy blue eyes that you feel like you could fall into... or his abs... his beautiful face...

Okay, I'll admit it, he's hot. Whatever. Moving on.

"It was nothing, just a weird little dream that made me change my mind about the whole Princess thing," I lied easily. I started walking away again but this time, instead of his voice stopping me, it was his arms. They picked me up, bridal style and started carrying me in the opposite direction. "Duncan, what are you doing, you pig?"

"Tell me what the dream was about."

"No!"

"Tell me," Duncan argued as he reached the same ridge that Duncan used to fish off of. The same one where he found the skeleton. "Or I'll drop you in."

I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms. "You wouldn't."

"Wouldn't I?" he smirked. I could feel his grip starting to loosen so I grabbed handfuls of his black shirt and held on with iron grip. "You'd better tell me before my arms give out."

"It was nothing!" _Lie._

"My arms sure are getting tired." His grip loosened even more and by then, I was clinging on for dear life. I did _not _want to get dropped in the shark infested, body dumping site! "I think I've only got a few more seconds-"

"Fine, I'll tell you!" I shrieked. "Just get me away from here!"

Duncan turned around and carefully placed me on the ground. "You have to tell the truth though, I know when you're lying. If you try lying, the first place you end up is the forest with the wolves and bears."

Another wolf howled and I shrunk back. Okay, maybe I should just give in and tell him the truth. Maybe he'll actually have something helpful to say.

So I told him everything, but instead of saying he rejected me, I used Scott's name. It was plausible, I mean, I was his girlfriend for two hours before I got dumped and Gwen dropped me as well. But even as I said the farm boy's name, I could tell Duncan knew it was a lie. Maybe he could tell when I was lying... Nah, I've gotten away with too much stuff for that!

When I finished, Duncan had a blank face on, like he was still figuring out everything I just said. "So, you're scared of rejection?"

I scoffed. "No! That's not what I said, it was just a stupid dream."

"But in your dream, your parents, Gwen, and 'Scott' rejected you. Believe it or not, I'm actually not a complete jerk and I know what you're going through. From what you say, you have a fear of not being good enough. Your parents put too much pressure on you and now you feel like you have to be perfect. _That's_ why you're so uptight all the time!" Duncan said, grinning like he just uncovered a secret treasure or something.

_ "_Okay, first, I am not uptight! And secondly, I never said my parents put too much pressure on me. You're picking up things that aren't there," I snapped, crossing my arms.

"Oh really? Sorry babe, but I've met your parents and they are about as stuck up as they come. Remember the time your Chemistry mark dropped below an 90%?"

_I was laying on the couch, curled up to Duncan with a silly grin on my face. We were watching Monsters, Inc. and even though we both thought it was a little childish, we just wanted to be near each other. At the time, we thought nothing could break us up. Except my parents of course..._

_"COURTNEY!" I jumped off the couch to see Mother storm in with a piece of paper clutched in her hand. Father was close behind her with a furious scowl on his face. Mother slammed the paper down in front of me, on our mahogany coffee table. "Would you like to explain what this is?"_

_I gingerly grabbed the piece of paper to see it was my most recent report card. Duncan peered over my shoulder and scanned the marks. "I-it's my report card."_

_"Yes, but what about the marks on the report card! You have a 87 in Chemistry!" Father bellowed and Duncan glanced at me like he didn't get what the big deal was._

_"What's so bad about that? I only have a 66% and she's still on honor roll," he shrugged and I wanted to slap him. That was not the words to calm my parents down!_

_"Because Duncan," Mother spat his name like venom, "Courtney has never gotten below a 90 and this completely ruins her average. How do you expect to get into any colleges with a mark like that? You may as well drop out and live on the streets because Law School is out of the question."_

_My eyes filled with tears and I hung my head in shame. "I'm sorry, I'll try harder," I sniffled._

_"You better," Father snarled as he ripped the piece of paper in half. "This is disappointing, Courtney. I expected better from you."_

I snapped back to reality when I realized that what Duncan was saying had some truth to it. My parents _did _put a lot of pressure on me to be something impossible. The wanted me to be prim and proper with 100% written at the top of every test. They wanted me to have a boyfriend who wore suits instead of Converse and would marry me not a day before I'm twenty-five.

In their minds, I'd have kids when I'm thirty and they'd grow up to be lawyers and scientists as well. I'd carry the family name with pride and die old, with ridiculous pension cheques and not a shred of adventure in my life.

And if anyone is like that, then that's just dandy but I'm starting to realize that that's not me. It will never be me because unlike my parents, I want excitement. I wanted to marry for love and travel the world, not knowing what would happen! I want to die in my fifties and encourage my children to be eccentric, not plain. I want someone like_ Duncan _not _them._

And there is nothing wrong with that.

* * *

**3,000 words! Hooray! I just couldn't stop writing once I started :D**

**So, as I said above, I have a few stories that haven't been published yet, but I'm fresh out of ideas for titles. So, if you want to help me come up with a title for my X-Men fic, leave it in the reviews. The info is in my profile :) I just thought it'd be fun to see what y'all come up with!**

**Also, I just kind of had an idea to two sequels for this story. They'd be called 'Seriously?' and then the third would be something like 'I'm Done With This', 'Are You Kidding Me?' or 'Honestly?' Tell me what you think is better!**

**Reviews**

**Gia Lara - care to expand on that? :)**

**Scribbler xD - I haven't seen TDROTI yet and I probably won't...ever. So I can't really comment on that but TDI is TOTALLY to best! And I'm so glad I finally got to write that part! I couldn't have Princess leave for good but I also couldn't have her just accept the pet names after everything that happened! And nice theory! I can't really confirm if your theory is right or wrong yet because that would obviously ruin the rest of the story! I can't do that, can I? And I was referring to just in general but the guys had it BAD in TD. Court definitely had it the worst though :'( And I agree, girls suffer a lot but I _can _think of one area where guys have it worse: if they're ugly, they have to live with it. At least us girls have makeup XD**

**OfficiallyWhelmedSpitfire - Haha I'm not saying it's not true! I believe it 100%! And Joker is such a well written character that he's just so... I don't have a word!**

**DannyPhantom619 - I agree with you in the sense that there are a lot of other factors that attribute to happiness but I don't think money is one of them. I admit that I'm well above the poverty line and there's been a period in my life where I literally hated living so I think there's a bit of controversy to that one. But I do agree with you a lot on that one :)**

**iceandfire105 - Haha I think it's hilarious how you're like frontline in the gender war and the reviewer above you is just like 'nope!' There's two kinds of people in the world XD Trust me, I could too! No offense to boys but they're just... UGH! If there are any guys who read this, I would just like to point out that girls are NOT objects, we do NOT appreciate cat calls, and if you text us right when we start getting over you, there is a 90% chance you will get annihilated! Okay, mini-rant over. I probably just confused everyone out there because my penname is a male name but I'm actually a girl ;D**

**Jazzy411 - You are like one of two people who actually acknowledged the skeleton. I kind of thought it'd be a bigger deal haha! I haven't seen Little Rascals! Is it any good?**

**Idk - I meant Flashy as Kid Flash because they had that thing or whatever it was :P The question is just for fun so don't think too hard about it! The majority of people agree with you though!**

**Artemis Raven Courtney - That's a good reason! Lot's of superheroes are flying all over the place, kicking butt here and there but Batman and Robin are doing it with only themselves. (And some pretty awesome tech) And agreed!**

**SideshowJazz1 - This may sound odd but reading about diseases and disorders is kind of a weird hobby of mine... If I wondered about a mental disorder, I'd be on that like white on rice! I agree, but then again, it's kind of hard to judge when you don't know the other side of things. I think girls have just inherently difficult lives. Finally, the skeleton won't be revealed for a while but there's going to be another little twist about it in the next chapter.**

**Question of the Day**

**What's your favorite kind of story? Ex. Futuristic AU, High School, Continuation, etc.**


	10. Just Another Day in the Neghbourhood

**Twelve reviews until 100! Can we do that by the next chapter? I know it's a lot but I would literally be more happy than you can ever imagine! I also moved review replies back up to the beginning of the chapter!**

**BadImpressions - Thanks! I haven't read a lot of stories that take place in the past but I'm planning on writing one (I'm debating whether it should be Heather and Alejandro or Duncan and Courtney... both would fit for different reasons.**

**Guest - Thanks, here's an update!**

**Lumarie-life - Yeah it is getting pretty crazy! When I started this, I wasn't going to put so much mystery in it but as I went on, I thought it made it better so I kept adding it!**

**Fishtank Product - Wow big Mal fan, eh? I've always been more interested in DxC if I'm going to be honest. And I'm not sure if that classifies as normal but normal is overrated anyway so you can just do whatever you want :P If I do make a sequel, I can definitely put Mike/Mal in it but I'm not sure if I can do that for this story just because I obviously can have only a select amount of characters. Being stranded on an island has it's downfalls I guess.**

**iceandfire105 - Yeah I was so happy and then I wrote this one which is only like... 2000 I think. Oh well. Yeah, I really like those kind of stories too and they tend to be the ones that get really famous if they're written well. But sometimes they just look silly if they're not! Have you read the Maze Runner books? I think you might like them! And I'm pretty sure you're one of few who could tell what gender I am :P I guess it doesn't really matter though!**

**Scribbler XD - I actually don't think I've seen that episode 0.o I haven't seen all the episodes of TD (Now that I think about it, I haven't watched EVERY episode from any season...) I like that though; fate is making sure they're together! I might add a little line about that in the next chapter. And I'll reveal whether the skeleton is a prop or not eventually but I can assure you that nobody has figured out what the skeleton is for yet :P I added in the little dream just to show how much pressure Courtney really does have on her shoulder because every teen is going to say they're parents are stressful, but here's just some proof of that. Dang, you could be a philosopher xD**

**Jazzy411 - When I picture Courtney's parents, I would NEVER imagine them being laid back. I don't think anyone does :) Haha well if that's your favorite kind of story then you're in the right place! **

**OfficiallyWhelmedSpitfire - I think I'm going to make it Honestly? :) It would be kind of odd if I had two similar titles and then one that doesn't fit in. I like High School fics too but they have to be written right. Sometimes they can just be boring but then other times, they can be the most entertaining thing in the world because HS can be kind of crazy sometimes :D**

**SideshowJazz1 - the next chapter is definitely going to have more development in it :) And fluff. Lot's of fluff. I don't read a lot of OC stories if I'm going to be honest just because I kind of have my own preference, you know? I guess I just like stories about the originals and I like seeing how authors can make crazy stories with the characters they've been given. But those stories sound amazing! I'm going to have to check them out when I have free time! :)**

I groaned and opened my eyes, scowling at Duncan who was standing in front of me. I'm still not sure how he always manages to wake up before me. It's probably just because he sleeps nineteen hours a day so by the morning, he can't possibly sleep any longer and _has _to wake up. That's my theory at least.

"What?" I grumbled, rubbing my eyes to get the tiredness out of them.

"We have a problem," he said and I groaned.

"Please don't tell me you found another dead body," I begged, slowly clambering to my feet. I glanced past him to see if there were any more skeletons on the beach but there weren't any.

There weren't _any._

"What happened to the skeleton?" I shrieked just as Duncan opened his mouth to answer me. I shoved past him and ran as fast as I could to the place where we had laid out the bones the day before. But other than some of the seaweed that clung to the bones, there wasn't any sign that a skeleton had ever been there. "Where is it?"

"That's our problem. When I woke up this morning, the bones were gone. I searched everywhere; I went through the edge of the forest, I walked a bit down the shore... I even tried prodding the bottom of the ocean with a long stick until that stupid shark jumped out and nearly bit my hand off," he explained, holding out his hand. In it, he had a very small stick that looked like it had a chunk bitten off it. He wasn't lying.

_For once._

"So, what, it just disappeared?" I said, exasperated. "It didn't just say, 'hey, I've had enough of these blokes, I'm going to go find some vegemite or something,'"

Duncan made a face. "Why'd you give it an Australian accent?"

"Because I can, Duncan!" I screamed. I was about scream something else but realized that I couldn't just scream whenever something went my way. That's what my therapist says at leas. I took a few deep breaths and then said, "Look, we need to figure out what happened and if this is another variable or something."

Duncan let out a sigh and rubbed his forehead, "Princess, I know you don't want to hear this but what if... what if we aren't getting tested on by animals? What if it's something else and all this time, we're running around, trying to solve 'The Case of the Missing Bones' and someone is on this island, plotting something sinister? We can't go looking for the bones because I seriously think that if we do, we're going to find something worse."

I studied Duncan's face and realized that he was serious... and right. The Scientists theory was just that... a theory. We came up with this on the spot and even if it did fit most of the incidents, it wasn't necessarily true. Or maybe it is but the scientists testing us don't want us to leave the island and if we try...

I shuddered at the thought of all the terrible things they could do to us before focusing on Duncan again. "Okay, so we don't look for the bones. Then what do we do?"

"We need to get off this island. And this time, we're not using some ridiculous idea like a hot air balloon-"

"Or wings made out of wax," I butted in and he smirked.

"Right. Nothing ridiculous, just something that could work," Duncan finished. "Now, let's start brainstorming."

"Actually, you go get us dinner, I'll think. I'm better at thinking alone anyway," I said. _I'm also better at thinking in general. _Thank God I didn't say that part out loud or else we'd have another one of our infamous fights. We'd gotten those down to a skill.

I watched Duncan walk off - okay, maybe I was just staring at his butt - until he disappeared into the trees to go pick us berries. Once he was gone, I sat down to think everything over.

Anything to do with water was out of the question because of the raft-eating shark and almost everything to do with the sky was out of the question too because of a safety issue. I mean, we got on this island by air but that was when we had a balloon. Now that _Duncan's _hot air balloon plan destroyed our balloons, using those to get away wasn't happening.

So then how could we get away then? I haven't seen a plane fly over us since the whole 'Sauce Incident' and they probably wouldn't come over anyway unless there was some kind of catastrophe that they could put on TV. _If only we could create a catastrophe..._

I sat up straight and if I were a cartoon, a light bulb would appear above my head. "I'm a genius!" I screamed aloud.

"I'd dial that one back a bit," Duncan smirked as he walked up behind me with empty hands.

"Okay first, I _am _a genius because I just found out a way to get us off the island, and secondly, where's all our food?" I asked and Duncan shrugged.

"All the food's gone," he answered and I stared blankly at him for a long moment as he explained. "When I went to go get it, there were just holes where the bushes used to be. There's not even a grape on the ground for us to eat."

"I have to see this for myself," I grumbled and started stomping towards the path we made. I reached it in a couple of minutes and followed the vandalism trail before I reached where all the berries and fruit were _supposed _to be. Duncan was right.

Where the bushes were supposed to be, there were giant, gaping holes in their place. I bent down an picked up a little bit of soil in my hands. "It's fresh so it had to have happened recently. And it's not like a bear just ransacked the place, someone deliberately dug the bushes out."

"Hey, what's that?" Duncan asked, pointing to a small pond. The pond was right next to a waterfall and it's wear we got all our drinking water since we obviously couldn't drink sea water. But Duncan wasn't pointing to just the water; he was pointing to something reflecting light _in _the pond.

I watched as he waded into the water and grabbed the shiny silver object off the pond floor. It ended up being a lot bigger than it looked with a long wooden handle. When he dragged it out of the water, I couldn't help but gasp, "It's a shovel."

"I told you we weren't the only ones on the island," Duncan smirked, tossing the shovel on the ground. "It looks like they left us another gift."

I picked up the shovel and started studying it, inspecting every inch of it before I carefully placed it on the ground again. "I don't think so. All of the other 'gifts' had this weird Greek letter with a U under it. I don't see one of those on here."

"So what are you suggesting? There are actually a bunch of people on this island, not just the single group that we were thinking of?"

"No... I don't think we were ever meant to find this," I explained. "When I told you the soil was fresh I meant it must have happened even minutes ago. I think whoever dug these plants out, heard you coming and threw the shovel in the water so they could get away. They might come back for it later."

"So what, we wait for them? Like one of those cop stake-out things?" he wrinkled his nose at the thought.

"Precisely," I grinned. "And if they don't come back for it, then we move onto Plan B."

"Which is..." he trailed off, waiting for me to explain.

I started telling him about how the chances of a plane flying over us were slim to none unless something _made _them come. "So what would make everyone swarm around a deserted island?"

"An all-you-can-eat buffet?"

I facepalmed, mentally and physically. "No! Media! The media would go crazy if there was some kind of catastrophe, especially if this island is private property! Think about it, even if there was only one helicopter or plane that came to cover it, they would still see our SOS and a whole fleet would come. So even if we didn't catch the first one, more will come."

"That's actually a good idea..." Duncan murmured. "So if this whole stake-out thing doesn't play out then we get a free ride out in a media helicopter."

"Exactly! We're getting off this island, I can promise you that."

**I'm sorry this is such a short chapter! But it was mainly just a filler that leads up to some more important chapters. I honestly just came up with the stake-out thing off the top of my head but it'll make for a cute, fluffy chapter :3 And also chapter ten! Yaay, I've never written this much before so I'm kind of proud of myself to be honest.**

** Question of the Day?**

**Do you prefer reading or writing?**


	11. I'm Screwed

**Jazzy411 - Yeah, some days I like reading, other days I like writing :) But you can't be a writer without reading and you can't read without a writer so it goes both ways. And thank you! I admit, I am a little proud but I'm scared that I'll get really full of myself haha! You got to love the Autralian accent though XD**

**BadImpressions - Yeah, I think it's so crazy when I read some of the things people come up with. Admittedly, some of them are a little disturbing but some of them are so original and creative that I don't know how that could have possibly been imagined!**

**Artemis Raven Courtney - Hehe I love writing plot twists! Got to keep people on their toes :) And trust me, you're not the only one who thinks that! I think I had only one or two reviews that actually made a decision between reading and writing.**

**Meeeeee - Yeah it's crazy, I've never written this much before! It's kind of weird actually :P I'm Canadian so I don't really know that much about Australia but I was just going by the stereotype because I doubt Court and Duncan would know a lot either! I think Australia would be an amazing place to visit though! And also, on the topic of vegemite, what does it taste like? I heard it tasted like really strong Soy Sauce! And okay, I won't tell you, you'll just have to keep reading!**

**Gia Lara - I do some days but most of the time I like writing more!**

**Jacky 99 - haha thanks! I'm glad to make you happy and I hope you like this chapter :)**

**OfficiallyWhelmedSpitfire - Holy, I know what you mean! I have so many idea in my mind that I swear they're taking over and I'm really bummed out because I know I won't be able to write them all! And for your actual review, I hate writing fillers but sometimes they have to be there because as much as I want to write twist after twist, there just needs to be a little break :) Omg I'm embarrassed now O.o I was being an idiot and just updated, even though I didn't proof read... I'll go back and fix those!**

**iceandfire105 - Ah that sucks because it's a really good book! I borrowed it from my friend :/ Haha Total Drama male population? You mean the male population in general XD jk! But on a side note, I swear to God that all my family thinks about it food! I went on vacay a while back and they ate like every hour! And not just snacks, they'd have like full on meals while I was just on the side, sipping on a diet coke and wondering how they didn't weigh a zillion pounds! And yeah, it's a hard question, eh? I think I have to agree with you though :)**

**SideshowJazz1 - Thanks, that's what I love to hear! Some days I'm just not in the mood for writing and other days I'll literally only read the dialogue... It varies a lot but I love them both more than that sentence would make you think!**

**Stunna13 - Thanks only one more review to go until I'm at 100! I'm so excited you have no idea!**

**Answer of the Day**

**(So I decided to post this because idk, maybe some of you care about my answers to the questions I ask) **

**I personally like writing a little more just because even though there are some beautiful reads out there, it also comes with looking through hundreds of stories that aren't as well written and finding a gem in the rough can be a little... tedious. And I also love seeing my ideas come to life :)**

* * *

A stake out. Yeah, that's the perfect way to find some magical plant stealing idiot.

It's also the perfect opportunity for feelings that I _thought _I buried to crawl their ways out of the darkest part of my heart. And just so you know, that takes some skill because when something gets cast away to that area, it's basically a goner. But apparently not because those stupid emotions are now in the form of an incredibly handsome, blue-eyed punk.

Let me explain...

When night fell and Duncan and I had found a good hiding place up in a tree on a thick branch, we settled down for the stake out. Duncan got _way _too into it, might I add. I told him to go catch some fish and he came back with like ten trout's and two dark lines under his eyes made from dirt. Well, I'm assuming it's dirt but I'm not going to ask.

Choosing our hide-out spot to be on a tree branch was not a good plan because not only was it uncomfortable, but it was also _terrifying. _I mean, I'm obviously not afraid of heights because I'm Courtney and I was a C.I.T and I'm not afraid of anything but Duncan was pretty rattled. I mean, he was clinging to me like he was about to fall out of the tree any second.

...Okay, yeah maybe I had that a little twisted. But it's not like I'm going to admit to Duncan that I was scared - let alone admit it to myself.

As I held onto the branch like it was about to snap any moment, Duncan took that as the perfect opportunity to take a wiz. I didn't know what he was doing at first until I looked up and saw something coming out of his pants. "OH MY GOSH!" I screamed and lost grip on the tree.

It wasn't a long drop but hitting about four branches on the way down made it feel like I was falling off Mount Everest. I landed on the ground with a loud thump and a yelp of pain. I rubbed my bottom tenderly as I stood up, glaring at the boy in the tree above me. He was staring down sheepishly at me and he _finally_ pulled up his pants.

"Why did you do that?" I snarled, crossing my hands over my chest.

"I drank a lot of water," he shrugged, doing up the zipper on his pants. "And being next to this waterfall made me need to go. So I went."

"You went right beside my face!" I screamed, stomping my foot. "Do you have any decency?"

"Uh, no, not really," he said, plopping down on the branch. Of course, he can stand on it, jump on it, and probably _dance_ on it, but when I'm clinging to the branch like it's my lifeline, I'm the one who falls out of the tree. Fantastic. God hates me.

"Right, I knew that," I spat, settling down at the base of the tree, behind a bush.

"What are you doing?" Duncan asked. Not a second after, he was hanging upside down in the tree so his face was just a few feet above mine. "Is the Princess too scared to climb a little tree?"

I scoffed, "No, I'd just rather not be in _that _position again. Besides, someone should be on the ground so when the idiot shows up for his shovel, I can get him faster."

Okay so maybe I was a little scared but my logic did make sense. The entire stake-out would be pointless if we were stuck in a tree and could only just watch him run off with our last clue to getting off this island.

"Good plan." The next thing I know, Duncan lands gracefully on his feet and sits down next to me.

"Uh, what are you doing?" I sass, crossing my arms again. "We still need a look-out in the tree."

"For what? I can see perfectly fine from down here," Duncan shrugged and made a little part in the bushes so he could see the clearing better. "And like you said, if this guy comes, we need to be able to catch him."

"Yeah well... your mohawk gives it away!" I was just desperate by now. I didn't want to be on this stake-out and I did _not _want to spend the entire night being annoyed by Duncan!

"It's green, the bush is green, I don't see a problem," Duncan smirked. As much I _tolerate _the guy, he still knows how to get on my last nerve and sometimes I just want some peace and quiet. Is that so much to ask? Apparently, because from the looks of it, he wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

"So... any chance you wanna make out?" I shot him a glare and huffed.

"You're _still _not my type," I snapped.

"Really? After all this time I thought you'd at least stop saying that. At least you knocked the whole C.I.T. thing down a few notches," he chuckled and gently nudged him. I nudged him back a little more roughly and tried my best to scowl. But now he was constantly poking my side, trying to 'turn my frown, upside down.'

Finally, I cracked a smile and he started cheering. I slapped my hand over his mouth while trying to stifle a giggle. "Duncan! We're supposed to be on a stake-out!"

Duncan licked my hand, making me yank it away faster than I could scream, "EW!" I wiped my slobbery hand on my pants and shot another glare at him but this one wasn't nearly as menacing. "Was that necessary?"

"Was covering my mouth necessary?" he shot back and I shrugged looking away. "And don't act like you aren't having fun; I saw that smile!"

"I never said I wasn't having fun..." I trailed off but when I saw that smug grin on his face, I just had to add, "But I never said I was either."

"Aw c'mon, Princess! You know you love this! It's just like old times," he grinned cheekily and leaned back on his hands. "Just relax and enjoy the sunset."

"It's night, Duncan. There is no sunset," I deadpanned but he only laughed. "Stop doing that!"

"What?" More laughter.

"Laughing at everything I say! I mean, I know I'm hilarious but not everything I say is a joke," I snapped, shifting away from him.

"Lighten up, babe. Just go with the flow and then maybe that pole will finally fall out of your butt," he smirked and poked me again. "Remember that one time we snuck into Chris' cabin and replaced all his food with a smelly fish? Be more like that Courtney!"

I wanted to tell him that I was the same Courtney but instead I said, "You're right. You know what? We should have snuck into his cabin on All-Stars!"

Duncan's eyebrow flew up and he clearly looked like he didn't believe a word I just said. "Really?"

"Yeah!" I smiled enthusiastically. But then me smile fell and I stared expressionless at him. "Oh that's right, you blew it up."

It was true though. Maybe we could have had some sweet little bonding experience where we snuck into the cabin again and stole something edible but instead, he just _had _to go and blow it up didn't he? When I say that we 'could have' a part of me knows that I wouldn't have done that even if my life depended on it. I might hate Duncan a little less now that I'm stuck with him but I absolutely despised him then.

I still do a little.

Duncan grumbled something under his breath and I could barely make out 'turning into Noah,' but I chose to ignore that remark. It's called selective hearing and I'm proud to say I'm a master at it. Duncan is too though we tend to only hear about 30% of what the other person is saying.

Silence filled the air and for about ten minutes, I was able to relax. I didn't have to listen to Duncan and I could just enjoy the serene night sky. Until _he _had to go and ruin it all like he ruins everything. _Everything._

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned just in time to see Duncan's eyes closing and then I felt his lips press against mine. Just like that. No warning, no explanation, just a kiss. And I can assure you that I pushed him away the _second _he tried to make a move on me! ...Okay, maybe I kissed him back a bit but then I pushed him back! Honestly!

...So maybe that was a lie too. It took a good minute for me to come to my senses but when I finally did, I was sitting on his lap, my arms around his neck and his hands on my hips.

"I miss this," he muttered in between kisses and that's when it hit me like a freight train. I should _not _be kissing Duncan.

Not only was he my ex who cheated on me, but he was also an ogre, a punk, and drives me up the wall (or in this case, tree). If I let this happen, what else would he think he'd be able to get away with? I couldn't let this go on more than it already was. I was already past the point of no return!

"No!" I screamed, pushing him away and causing a nasty line of spit to dangle between our lips. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve and hopped off Duncan's lap like he was the Plague. I stood up and started pacing back and forth, not caring that whoever stole our plants would be able to see me. I was making a racket too; stomping over twigs and leaves and mumbling to myself, "Oh, this is bad... this is really bad..."

"What's bad?" Duncan asked innocently. The second I heard his voice, I started to get angry though, instead of worried. That idiot was the one who made me like this!

I hand connected with the back of his head. "You idiot! Why did you do that? You just ruined everything again!"

"How? I just wanted to make out and you didn't give me a straight answer before. I'm a hormonal teenage boy; I have my needs!" Duncan explained as if that justified everything. "You didn't have to hit me for it! I mean, you kissed me right back."

"No I didn't," I stomped my foot indignantly with a huff. "I was sexually harassed and I refuse to believe any differently."

So maybe I kissed him back a _little _bit... or a lot. Okay so I definitely kissed him back but whatever! Details, details.

"Sure, that's how you ended up on top of me," Duncan smirked and I shot him a glare that could kill a litter of puppies. He held up his hands in defence. "I'm just saying!"

"I'm taking a walk and don't you dare follow me," I snapped and started stomping away. The shovel was completely forgotten and the stake-out was considered a bust. I decided then, as I walked out of Duncan's vision, that I would _not _be returning to that stupid place where we kissed. I was going back to the shore and if Duncan cared, he could finish the stake-out on his own.

"Stupid Neanderthal," I muttered as I walked out of the forest and started to the area where I normally sleep. "He has no right to kiss me!"

_'Well some part of you must have made him think that he did,' _a quiet voice in the back of my mind whispered. But just like my feelings, I chose to ignore it too.

I sat down on the rocky beach and curled up into a ball, trying to fall asleep. It took about another two hours for me to actually drift off though because I had so much on my mind and I was desperately trying to think of anything _other _than Duncan and my romantic feelings for my that were crawling their way out of hell. And just as I fell asleep, one last thought hit me:

'_I'm so screwed.'_

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**I feel like 90% of my chapters are author notes... oh well. **

**Anyway, here are some updates on my life: I have recently fallen headfirst into the 5 Seconds of Summer fandom and also, I discovered I'm a lightweight.**

**Okay, starting with the 5sos thing... So I don't know how it happened. I really don't but they're all super attractive and talented and I even made an account on 5sos fanfiction so you guys can check me out if you're interested :) my username is CherryXx because I forgot that I had a serial killer username streak going on... Next time I join a website I think I'll either be John Gacy or Jack the Ripper... Okay back to 5sos. But yeah, they're all super attractive and for some reason I really like Michael Clifford the best (I have a thing for guitars and tattoos so that probably plays a big part).**

**Aaaand onto the lightweight thing! So here's the story; I'm a bit of a party girl and other than writing, I like going out with my friends and playing beer pong in a dirty garage. Classy right? Anyway, I was smashing down Palm Bays (which are only 5% mind you) and I got drunk. Extraordinarily so... I was a mess.**

**But yeah, those are some updates on my life :D You guys learned something about me! But the reason I told you that second bit is not only because I thought it was kind of funny, but because it also gave me a pretty good idea for a new fic... The descriptions in my profile but it's a party fic and it will feature funny stories told from you fantastic people! So if you have any stories about partying, drugs, booze or just something crazy that happened, send it in a review and you may see it happen to one of our TD characters in my upcoming story :)**

**Question of the Day**

**What's some of your favorite bands/musicians? **


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